The Light's Peacekeeper
by aLazyButSmartFanPJO
Summary: Percy has gone over to the darkside. A friend appears and helps her to cope, and defeat this new and corrupted Percy, and save the gods. Memories, friends, and enemies resurface. Who will win the war between Light and Peace against Darkness and Evil? Sequel to Assassin of the Dark!
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**HULLO PEEPS, AM BAAAAACK! This story is called The Light's Peacekeeper, as you can see just above here, and I fully know that you people aren't blind, you're reading this duh. So this is a sequel to my previous story Assassin of the Dark ;D  
**

**Yeah, I think this story will be shorter than the last- NO. I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT. Maybe not, maybe :)  
**

**Well, here's your... whatever you call it.**

**SEQUEL PROLOGUE! WOOOO. Hope you like it~**

**Warning: !SINGLE CURSE WORD COMING!**

* * *

Chapter 1

She didn't care if her Mother could here this or not; she'll say this:

_F*ck._

She hated her life. She doesn't swear, no- to the Fates, maybe- but she couldn't stop herself. The Fates loved messing with her life. But still, another thought was settled in her mind for as long as she can remember. Her fellow campers who fought in the Field of Mars haven't come back yet, meaning: she has been thinking not too long. But it felt like hours, days, weeks, months. It still lingers.

_My fault…_

That was her only thought as she wandered aimlessly around the place she once called home.

Her now destroyed; burnt; broken home.

She stared at a picnic bench forlornly, reminiscing their first kiss as a couple. It was badly burnt; a small piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it bluntly was all left of the poor table they once used to eat on with different kinds of delicious food, like bacon, blue waffles, ham sandwiches, blue pancakes, Coca-Cola, blue cherry coke; blue, blue, blue. All of it blue, nothing left but a sharp, glassy piece of broken plate and a goblet with a long crack on the side. It was destroyed by both of their sides in the war.

Just like their relationship. He didn't destroy it alone. She had a part too. Both of them had their faults. But she blamed all of it on herself. She started it. So she blames herself. Hugging herself miserably out of self-pity, she thought back to what he had said.

_She liked me; I liked her back. I was going to propose to you. And then you betrayed me. And her. And you made me suffer. This is just payback time, Annabeth. Vengeance._

It did not need a long time to decipher. Easy said, easy meaning. Long meanings behind short sentences. She understood all perfectly: her mother liked him. She did too. And he liked both of them back. He was being fair, but they were not. Then he had vengeance. And all of that depressing things. They wouldn't allow that. But he didn't listen. He continued, and as a result; all of these: destroyed by him.

Well, not literally by him, but still. She couldn't wrap her finger around what he just did- destroyed their relationship, and his home. Where he first discovered that he was one special kid, where he learned to defend himself, where he did quests with her, where he met her…

Her, who caused more pain more than all his friends combined.

She fell to her knees and cried, still staring at the burnt piece of wood. It all started when she did the wrong choice. Believe it or not, daughters of Athena could also make mistakes. She said one small word, but it turned out to be one big mistake.

From one 'yes', she not only caused him so much pain, but also her dear Mother- who she just saw suffering in front of her face, some of her Uncles and Aunts, especially her Grandfather, Granduncle, and some of her Grandaunts. At first, she didn't know where they were taken, or what was happening to them; she told herself that she probably wouldn't want to know.

Before she Iris-messaged her Mother, she didn't know.

It was too painful, knowing that you caused it all. Even if she had no love for her Grand-step-mom, it still hurts.

Because of so much crying, she didn't notice the figure looming over her like a shadow. And speaking of which, it didn't cast one. Although it didn't, it was hard not to notice because of the brightness, but since it was too much she couldn't look. The figure seemed to understand and the light dimmed a little for her to see. There, she saw him.

It was a tall man wearing all white; white suit, white shoes, and has whitish blond hair. His eyes were glowing- just glowing softly, like pure white light. She blinked. This could be a monster, but she didn't care. It's better to die when you lost your loved ones worse than death.

_Just like what happened to Luke_, she thought bitterly. _And Thalia. And- and him._

"Stand up, Annabeth Chase," the man said gently. She obeyed, and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. She stood still and patiently, as if waiting, but not really having any intention to move from her place.

The man's expression was grim, like he was also grieving with her. "You need to get over it," he said slowly and carefully, as if Annabeth were fragile and will break down when he said one violent word. "Crying will not do anything."

Annabeth knew that, of course. But she lost her hope to do something. Her inspiration. And with losing those, comes losing her own purpose.

"You're right," she agreed, staring blankly straight ahead. "Just kill me."

The man didn't look surprised at this request; he only regarded her with a look of sympathy and confusion. "Why should I?"

"I have nothing to live for," she answered, not bothering to show any emotions. "I have no Mother, no best friend, no lover, no hope." She looked away to the sea, the sun rising from the horizon into the rufous colored sky. "No purpose."

"No purpose, you say?" He turned to the horizon. "The sun is rising. The rising sun often relays the rise of a new day. A new hope. A new life." He turned back to her, then smiled. "If I would give you a new purpose, would you want to live?"

She stared at the surviving campers in the distance, desperately trying to rebuild their home after the massive damage the recent war had brought upon it. She tried to process the words. Truly, these things shouldn't be in difficulty for a daughter of Athena, like her. But it's not this time. The words were simple- even a child could understand it- but what she was struggling about was the meaning. A simple statement- a simple question, yet very hard to comprehend. She hated that.

A new purpose… A new life. The words kept echoing in her head. That sounded so good, but what to do? She had already made a decision, but due to the past events, she was now pessimistic; a jumping-to-conclusions kind of person; afraid to make a small decision, or utter the single syllable words, afraid that it might hurt her once again, reopening the fresh wound.

She thought of all the possibilities. When you say that word, there's no turning back.

This man might be telling the truth. This man might give her a new purpose. This guy might give her help in order to restore things to their rightful places. But this man could also lie- many people do. Yes, she will get a new life- but this man may mean a new life in the Underworld. This man might also use her, just like what the enemies did to Percy- even if he said it didn't go like that. She sighed in verdict.

Building up all the courage she could muster; mostly built up of hope and determination to get him back- back to her arms; get her mother back- back with her perfectly safe, she decided confidently, her voice never quavering.

"Yes."

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**AHAHA. Question: Who is this man? Find out next chapter!**

**Okay. Sorry it's short but... Review! Tell me what you think! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**HEY AWESOMENESS :)**

**Thanks for all, I mean, first day, I get 10 reviews, 18 favs and 30 follows? Okay, make that 29, but still.**

**So some guy by the pen name of vickydd forgot the plot. Let me enlighten you:  
**- Because you forgot the plot of the last story, _(Come on! Why do that?)_ you can't quite place how the first chapter came to be. So I'll just put the end part, m'kay? Basically, the last battle was in the Field of Mars in Camp Jupiter. There was a pit straight to Tartarus near New Rome. When they retreated, almost all of the gods were already down there. The Dyname squad took their own demigods too, and Thalia was supposed to take Annabeth to Tartarus, but she still treats her as a friend, so she saved her and led her to Camp Half-Blood.

**And yeah, with that aside, here's two!**

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Chapter 2

Annabeth did not remember what happened before. All she knew was she met this white guy, who offered her something… Something she still has to remember- the memory was fuzzy, but thankfully, it was still there. Yes, and she remembered that she accepted. She still couldn't remember her reason, but she said yes.

She felt a chill travel down her spine, causing her to shiver involuntarily. Her first thought after that was, _What have I done? If my mom were here-_

Then she remembered. That Iris-message. Camp Half-Blood. White guy. New life… She remembered, after all. But who was that guy? Where was she?

She tried to open her eyes, but they were squeezed shut. She tried to move, but couldn't. It was like her consciousness was awake in her unconscious body. Before she could wonder if that was possible, the emptiness dissolved into a scene. It was also dark, but this room- if this was ever a room- was dimly lit by faint red light.

She recognized it already; she even wonders how she didn't have nightmares about it.

Maybe this was the first.

At the end of the room, resting in the shadows was a man. She couldn't see his face from where she was staying, because the shadows were covering it. Although, she could see that he was standing upright and stretching, his hands placed far on his sides. He was leaning forward slightly, his head was down, and he was not moving.

A boy entered the room from behind her. He looks really familiar; she felt like she had seen that hair before. Like she had seen this boy last time. He wore pitch black armor, and a black sword was strapped to his side. How the body armor was designed: she didn't know. It didn't look that much familiar to her- it didn't look like Greek armor nor Roman. He had a cape which was dark grey with black flames, and at the center was a black and red symbol of a Greek letter: Kappa.

She tried moving her legs, just to see the face of the boy, but they failed her. She was rooted to the spot. She shrugged it off; it was obvious that he didn't see her standing there, she wouldn't be in the face of danger- or perhaps he pretended that he didn't see her, and then go on with some crazy mad stuff that might ruin her innocence and sanity for the rest of her life.

She decided to think about the first one. Must think positive, it seems.

The boy stopped in front of the man. He made a hand gesture- that must've called forth for more people in pitch black armor from behind her. They all had capes with similar designs that of the first boy, but their symbols varied in between Sigma, Delta, Zeta, and- like the first boy's- Kappa. They all had different weapons with them: swords, spears, knives, axes, bows, and whatever; the people that have Kappa on their capes have many varieties of weapons, unlike the people that have Delta have some spears, swords, and bows. The people that have Zeta on their capes mostly have knives. The people with Sigma, on the other hand, only varies through swords, spears; some even have none.

The boy turned and faced the crowd. Her eyes widened. That's why he looked so familiar, she really have seen him before. As if seeing her reaction, he narrowed his eyes in her direction. She thought she was busted and going to die when he suddenly grinned. He waved at her.

She didn't know what to do. She was in shock. Slowly, the crowd turned and followed his example, waving and smiling. Before she could decide whether to bolt out or wave, someone beside her spoke, which made her jump.

"Aw, stop it," the voice chided. The all too familiar voice chided. She looked at him; he still had the same sea green eyes, unruly black hair, and goofy smile. "Go on, I'm just going to watch you. Nobody knows what you kids will do."

Everyone grunted at the 'kids' remark, and turned back to the man. One boy in a Sigma cape stepped forward with a bucket of boiling hot water and dunked it on the man's head. His head responded instantly. He threw his head back and screamed. She watched in horror as the others did nothing but laugh, especially when she saw the man's face. Percy was just chuckling beside her with an evil glint in his eyes. This was not the same Percy she knew.

This was not it.

Her eyes fluttered open. When it did, though, she had to blink several times so her eyes would adjust to the light of the room she was in. A few moments later, she could make out a white and gold room, and a light tanned girl about her age looming over her. The room smelled suspiciously of alcohol. She hated the place already. She hated hospitals.

Or so she thought it was a hospital. The girl, noticing that she was awake, smiled.

"Hi. Finally you're awake," she said. Annabeth wanted to say, _Well duh_, but held her tongue and waited. The girl introduced herself, "I'm Abigail, daughter of the upper atmosphere and heavenly light." She paused and blinked, as if she recalled something. She smiled. "Speaking of whom, my father wishes to speak with you."

* * *

Annabeth was pondering over about if air could produce mortals and claim it as its own, or not; or whether the light could flicker and materialize into a form of a man or woman, or not. Yes, it didn't sound realistic, and Annabeth knew that. She decided that it has to do with personifications of a person, because Abby- Abigail insisted that she'd call her that- told her before that it was her father. She was thinking, _Could it be Aeolus?_ But then she remembered about the heavenly light. She shook her head, shaking the thoughts off her mind.

_I'll just think about it later…_

"We're here," Abby proclaimed. They stopped in front of large, double doors with the same color scheme as the infirmary and the hallways: white and gold. Annabeth looked up and inhaled a huge amount of air, and pushed the doors open.

It opened flawlessly to reveal a large room with a high ceiling. At the end of the room were two thrones: one slightly smaller than the other. On the smaller throne sat a beautiful woman. She has golden blonde hair and shining, gold eyes. She was light skinned, and she wore a silvery white Greek chiton.

And she was having a serious talk with the white guy.

They stopped conversing immediately once they saw the two enter the throne room. Abigail bowed to the woman, and then knelt before the white guy. Annabeth followed her lead. The man stood up.

"You may go now, my daughter," he ordered then turned toward Annabeth as Abigail scurried out of the throne room. "Ah, I see you are awake. We have a lot to talk about."

Annabeth looked questioningly at the man who must've took her to this palace. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Where did you take me?"

Okay, she admits; that was impolite of her. But you couldn't possibly blame her. She is a daughter of Athena. Her head would explode any moment if those millions of questions resting in her head won't come out. She doesn't like not knowing; she _needs_ to know _everything_.

But the man seemed unaffected of her impoliteness. "I am Aether, primordial of the heavens. This is Hemera, my consort, primordial deity and goddess of the daytime. You are in my palace," he explained as Hemera smiled at her openly. Annabeth felt her jaw become slack as she stared at the two powerful deities in front of her.

She regained her composure and bowed. "My apologies for-"

"No need," Hemera waved off her apology. "You simply didn't know, that's all."

Annabeth bit her lip nervously. "But why am I here Lady Hemera?"

Aether smiled. "As I said before, I will give you a purpose to live if you don't have any. You could look for him. You could get him back."

Her eyes widened. "Him... Percy.." she mumbled longingly.

Hemera nodded. "We have decided to take you with us," she told her. "You will have a new purpose, at the same time a new family, and a new inspiration. You will become our champion. Serve your purpose as a peacekeeper."

Annabeth managed a small smile. "As long as I get him back..."

* * *

She bolted upright, gasping for breath. She looked around, some tears blurring her vision.

The place she got was decent enough for her. It was just like a school dorm room. There were a total of three bunk beds, but she only has three roommates, all sound asleep and snoring softly. There was a tall bookshelf on the side of her bed, and a little study table at the other side. On the sides of the other bunks were bedside tables, and small aquariums and more bookshelves. All the weapons were hung on the wall, as well as the armors at their respective sides. The closets were opposite of the bunk beds, and a bunch of other stuff.

Annabeth felt her face. Beads of sweat were running down on her already sweaty face. Her pillow also felt wet.

It was another nightmare. Another nightmare haunted her in her sleep since the first.

This was going on for days now. Since the first dream she had about this, the one with Zeus, she had been receiving more of the worse and worst. The worse showed some of her fellow demigods that got captured to get tortured and such. The worst were not what she expected.

Of course, she wouldn't want to think that the worst nightmares were about her mother. She didn't expect that. Another showed the one with her, as the prisoner and damned. She knew that she blamed herself for these past events that were not wanted, and sometimes thought that: _I should've been the one who was taken, not anyone of them,_ but seeing it come true, she changed her mind. But the worst- and she tells you- _worst_- she doesn't know if that was a demigod dream or a nightmare, but she saw _him_.

He was the one getting tortured.

* * *

**Okay, I know the ending up there sucks, but yeah. Tell it in my face.**

**IT SUCKS. I know.**

**But yeah, I just want to thank all the people who took their time to check those small little boxes, you're all awesome! And, to just shorten this note here, I'm just going to reply to your reviews, reviewers. Thanks also to those who, yeah, checked those small little boxes.**

**0.0Lovewriting (**_AHAHA. Yeah, thanks!_**)  
AlexisFoy27 (**_O.O_**)****  
****Pop55557 (**_What does that mean? O;O_**)**_**  
**_**time is taking its sweet time (**_THINE UPDATE IS HERE_**)**_**  
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**_**Epithet2****  
****(**_Thanks! Answers: Athena doesn't like Percy like that, but yes and she approves of him. Percy was being fair: I don't really know how to explain this but, let's say like this: Percy returns his love for them, BUT they... AGH. Yeah, returned it by favoring the other son of Poseidon, Duke. I don't know if that made sense, but, did it?_**)**_**  
**_**Lolz4Lyf****(**_Thanks very much!_**)**_**  
**_

**So, that's all, and to all you Americans, good morning, I guess; to my fellows, good afternoon, and to others: Good Bye! -SmartzyFan**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone!**

**I am gonna say sorry because I'm too lazy to reply to your reviews right now, and my brother's rushing me to watch something in this laptop of mine. And I like what we're about to watch. You wouldn't want to know, though. The intent is too childish.**

**So thank you to the people who reviewed, followed, and favored this story, and the story before this, it was greatly appreciated.  
**

**I won't see ya at the bottom anymore, (it isn't cut, if ever you're wondering) so I'll just say this: Read and Review! Bye -SmartzyFan**

* * *

She sighed dejectedly.

All of these events are happening really fast- really fast that she almost couldn't take it.

First, the Giant war was over.

Second, she and her boyfriend unofficially broke up.

Third, he decided to side with the enemies for another war.

Fourth, the bad side sort of won and captured her mother and her other godly relatives for their own 'fun' purposes.

Fifth, a man clad in white comes to her and offers a way for her to get his boyfriend, or mother, or whoever loved ones, back. Then that man happened to be Aether, the primordial of heavens, who was no doubt a great opposite of the primordial of Hell.

It may just have gotten a lot worse. She gets informed that she gets to be the peacemaker- sorry, keeper. There is still peace, and she has this amazingly easy job of keeping it plenty. And obviously, that means preventing the dark side from doing anything extremely good for her taste. Please note the sarcasm in her thoughts.

She groaned in frustration. _What have I gotten myself into?_ She thought as she swung her feet off the bed onto the floor. She closed her eyes briefly, collecting herself. She looked up to find big, sparkling yellow eyes looking worriedly into her own grey ones. She sighed again.

"Good mo- what time is it anyway?" she asked the daughter of Aether confusedly. Abby smiled apologetically.

"Judging from where the sun rises and where it is in the sky now, I'd say that it is sunrise. But the truth is, sorry, I don't know."

Annabeth was still confused. Why wouldn't they know the time? Is this place all suns and light and no moon and darkness? Well, considering the people who rules the place, it made sense. She nodded and stood up to go to the bathroom. After freshening up, she changed into her denim shorts that somehow managed to make its way to her, and a cream colored T-shirt with a Greek and Latin writing of 'Camp Memories'. Sounds like a photo album title if you ask her, but wore the top nonetheless.

For reasons she can't explain, the clothing she was wearing reminded her of Camp Half-Blood. It just felt so… Familiar. Homey. Even if she hadn't worn the T-shirt before. It sent her a peculiar feeling of… Home.

Annabeth followed the daughter of Aether out of their barracks. Something came to her, suddenly. If the clothing reminded her of Camp, the place reminded her of the other camp, the camp's Roman counterpart: Camp Jupiter. They don't exactly do all the Roman training here, but with a mix of Greek as well. Where the campers would stay are the barracks, where they would eat is in the mess hall, there was a camp forge and an armory, and there was also a Roman bath house just near the barracks. They have a forest like Camp Half-Blood, but also a battlefield for the war games like Camp Jupiter.

All in all, it was like she was looking at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter fused together. And it was so peaceful looking.

In reality, the two camps tried to fuse like that. They were in good terms, but got into occasional fights that sometimes got out of hand. Obviously, the architects wanted to build instead of destroying them, and these fights would not make them possible. So they gave up on it.

Anyway, looking back, Abby showed her around the Camp. She met a few good people: Steven, Jessica, Catherine, Tony, Madison and Dalton, Nicolas, and much more people. She also almost fainted in surprise that Charles was there. Charles. Charles Beckendorf. Silena was there too, with him. Lee was there as well, hanging out with Michael when Annabeth saw them. She realized one thing once she met those four, and was asking a question in her brain right now.

Where was _he_?

For a second she got real scared, thinking that maybe, her brother figure joined on the other side instead of this side like her other friends did. She thought that- noooo, please don't. Taking deep breath's to calm herself, she tuned back in to what Abby was telling her.

"-is the headquarters… or castle if you want to be straight with it. That was where you were yesterday. We come in there for meetings, talks, and other stuff. The infirmary is in there, too," she explained as she turned to Annabeth for any questions to be shot her way.

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "Meetings for what? And what other stuff?"

Abby blinked. "Oh. Well uh, meetings for the… next move… you know," she explained, shifting her feet uncomfortably. "And, well, since you're the new peacekeeper and all, you'd go in there. A lot."

The daughter of Athena frowned. "New peacekeeper? Who was the last one?"

Instead of answering, Abby's eyes traveled behind her companion, her face stretching into a wide smile. She turned back to the grey-eyed demigod, her smile turning sheepish. "I'm sorry, but I got to go. I'll call someone over for you to continue the tour. Say, I'll get Tony? See you!"

Annabeth blinked as she stared at where the daughter of Aether ran of to, her whitish blonde hair floated behind her running figure. Just then, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see grinning Michael. Lee was behind him.

"Hey Annabeth!"

"Hi," she replied, forcing a smile.

They frowned. "Why so gloomy?"

"Oh, nothing. Now leave me-"

"'Scuse me. Annabeth?"

The said daughter of Athena turned to the newcomer. She almost gasped. She saw beautiful sea green eyes, unruly, jet black hair, an upturned nose and a goofy smile. She almost hugged him if she didn't know better. He looked exactly like _him_. She sighed.

"Tony, right?"

The said son of Poseidon nodded. "Abby kinda asked me to continue your camp tour, so here I am. And…" His gaze flitted to the two Apollo brothers. "What are you doing here?"

Michael grinned at him. He put an arm around his shoulder. "Tony, my friend!" he exclaimed. "How nice of you nicely ask me that! You want a song? Archery lessons? Haikus?"

Tony shook his head frantically. "No thanks." He turned back to Annabeth who was now crying on Lee's shoulder. Michael's jaw dropped in shock. Tony's face just twisted in plain confusion to both: Annabeth crying, and Michael's, erm… Jaw dropping session, which now turned into fish imitation session.

"A-Annabeth? Are you crying?"

Lee gave his brother a weird look before comforting Annabeth. She kept her head down and walked with the three boys to the camp, talking softly about the past events. Tony felt intruding in this- he didn't know his half-brother, he wasn't from their timeline and yet here he was listening to them. But he couldn't keep his curiosity to himself so he just decided to listen in.

Annabeth explained the things that happened in the past month. All of it. She didn't leave out a thing of what she knows. Or so she thought that she didn't leave something out.

Tony, Michael and Lee found themselves scowling. The son of Poseidon and the two sons of Apollo wore two different expressions. One was betrayal and anger. The other was realization and slight suspicion. _There has to be something that made him go all mad like that_, he thought, _The children of Poseidon's fatal flaws is loyalty. _Something must have angered him greatly to the point that he sided with the enemy. And to the point that he took his own father to torment. This was really bad.

He voiced his thoughts to them. Michael and Lee looked torn between agreeing and disagreeing. Annabeth, though, remained silent. This added to his suspicion more. He grunted and tactfully changed the subject. "Anyhow, Michael, Lee, I've got someone to tour, thanks." He nodded at them as they obliged and ran off.

* * *

"I'm sorry to intervene on your… quality time."

The five teens scoffed. They were having a good day hanging out with their favorite godly relatives until someone had to ruin the fun. The messenger ran into them panting, bringing a message that they needed to leave- much to the gods' relief, and the teens' disappointment. But before they did, they gave their relatives one more, erm, 'thing', before going out and laughing their heads off. Good times, good times.

They heard them clearing their throats awkwardly. "Sorry again, but this one is important. The enemy I was talking about-"

"Went to CHB? Helped them out? Watch things?" one of them interrupted. Another one of them sighed exasperatedly at his behavior. "Sorry about that, Master."

The scruffy voice grunted. "I won't have any of that. But yes, he is correct, though it hasn't happened yet. That's where you come in."

The teens murmured to each other in excitement except for one- who was currently babbling to his companion. "See Omega? I'm right! I'm correct!"

"For once," Omega mumbled, before deciding to get to the point straight ahead. "What do you want us to do?"

"Hmm," the feminine voice mused. "What do _you_ want to do with them?"

"Uh, show 'em who's boss?"

"Nail them with arrows."

"Kick them where it hurts."

"I'm not going say something else…"

"Kill them!"

Their female master chuckled lightly. "Very forward of you, Mario."

"Uh- huh," he sputtered. "Yeah. So… we could do that?"

"Yes…" the deep voice of their master trailed off, then adding, "You can't."

They assumed that his smile fell at that, as he became unusually quiet. A few moments after, he said in a high-pitched, whiny voice,

"Whaaaat? Why not?"

"Let's forget about the reason. The thing that you need to do is get at least two of you to that camp and another two of you in the other. Those four would see what the enemy group wants and does. The one that remains will torment them so they would be reaching camp the hard way, get followers, and not let things get out of hand."

Omega's voice sung, "Well obviously, I'll be that 'Chosen One'. You people have fun and try not to kill each other. Yet. Especially you, Mario."

"Yeah, tha- HEY!"

"Oh come now, Omega," Dianne whined. "That's just not fair. Having all the fun while we have a living Tartarus." She sputtered, realizing what she just said. "Uh… uh, um, no offence Master."

"Yeah!" Kaemon agreed, ignoring Dianne's previous words. "We get the really hard job of spying on them-"

"Hard. Really?" Omega asked him sarcastically. "Don't you worry. I'll be up above you while doing my extremely _easy _job of watching over you. Especially Mario."

"Why do I always-!"

"Shut up!" Everyone laughed at that.

"Enough of this," the deep voice scolded. "You will be leaving the day after tomorrow, because their group would leave the day after that. You may leave, but Omega, please stay for a while."

His friends gave out an accusing 'oooh', much to his annoyance. He opened one eye and glared at them through it as most of them leave the chamber with grins on their faces, temporarily forgetting that they'd have to put up with people in the camps. He pouted at them as the last one, Dianne, winked at him and waved at him with her fingers, before turning around fully and running off. He had to grin at that.

Embracing the silence, he returned back to his conversation and concentrated once again. Once he is certain that the Masters can hear him, he asked,

"What is it, Master?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, yo, I'm back!**

**I understood that some people didn't understand the last bit last chapter there, but hopefully you would once you read this. It's on the some paragraph down there, I'm sure.**

**I'm going to make this a little more longer 'cause, oh I dunno, I feel like cheating you, and I feel bad about that.**

**THE CHAPTER SHALT COMMENCE!**

* * *

Chapter 4

"Great. That really made me feel _so_ much better."

"What did they say?"

"Only one of them could kill me. _If _they strike me at the right spot, that is."

"What right spot? Achilles heel?"

"Nah, had enough of that."

Kaemon just shrugged and shouldered his bag. He turned to his right to see his three companions waiting for them. He made a 'wait' gesture and turned back to Omega, who have just slung his bag on his shoulder, fingering the emblem in his necklace lovingly and delicately. He rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers below his nose. The leader snapped out of his somewhat trance and glared at him, in which he received a cheeky grin.

The assassin picked up his staff that was leaning on his wall, and strapped it to his back. He beckoned his leader who let go of the necklace and was checking his pockets, to come, and they left the chamber, or perhaps the pit.

The Titan General was grumbling angrily, complaining about the huge weight on his shoulders when all of a sudden, he noticed the shadows around him move to a particular spot. He scowled at this.

_Brats_, he thought. It would be smarter if they would free him from his burden. He was annoyed that the brats coming here do not realize that. Heck, even the Masters don't, of whom he thought would be smarter that the dumb half-bloods.

Speaking of the devil, and they shall appear. Damn stupid half-bloods. A tall man in a black cloak came out of the shadows, followed by four more in the same black cloaks. When the titan came in their line of sight, they smirked, unlike the titan who scowled at them. The tall man who came out first feigned surprise.

Atlas became more pissed off at this. He could tell that they went there just to do that.

"Oops."

* * *

_-*Two Days Ago*-_

TWANG!

Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, architect and heroine of Olympus, *titles* blah blah blah, let the arrow fly. It hit a few centimeters east from the center of the target. She stared at it a few moments, and then at her hands holding the bow, unblinking. She gripped the bow tighter, then loosened, and then she sighed. She was out of practice, she realized.

"Nice shot," someone from behind her praised.

She whipped her head around to see a grinning Michael Yew. She managed a small smile before turning back and shaking her head.

"I obviously need to do better," she claimed, grabbing another arrow from her quiver and notching it. "I'm out of practice."

He snorted. "Out of practice," he repeated mockingly as she pulled on the string, aiming at the target.

"Yeah. Would you look at-" She cut herself off, letting the arrow fly, expecting it to hit a worse spot from a while ago, like a few more centimeters in the other direction. Instead, she got a bull's eye. "That. That's just luck."

The son of Apollo chuckled, walking beside her. He looked at the target, which just gained another bull's eye, splitting the previous arrow in half. He shook his head incredulously. "Whatever Annie."

Not receiving a response, which was quite peculiar, he continued, "Lord Aether wants to talk to you."

After shooting another bull's eye, she turned to him. "What for?"

Michael lowered his gaze hesitantly. "Mission."

Annabeth pursed her lips, and nodded. "Just a sec." She pulled on the bow string and released another arrow-splitting arrow. She put the bow back on the rack and felt her knife on her hip, and then nodded at the archer.

"Let's go."

* * *

Annabeth found herself walking with the son of Apollo at the palace hallways, making their way to the living room. She had admired the palace, every detail, every architecture bit there is to say. Lord Aether's palace was, needless to say, beautiful.

Not too long after, as because the living room is not that far to the main palace doors, they had made it to the said room. In the room were three couches all facing a glass coffee table, and in front of them is a fire place. The walls were designed and hung with antique stuff, spoils of war, armor, and various weapons. There were two doors seen in it, both of which Annabeth didn't know where headed to. Behind where she was standing was an archway the shape of a Greek Omega. It goes with the color scheme; they passed through a gold Omega.

Sitting on one of the couches were Lord Aether and Lady Hemera, still in their elegant get-up like the day ago. On the other couch, the one facing the fire place, was a slightly muscular, young man, with long, straight black hair flowing down to his lower back. He had unnerving, white eyes with specks of purple and he was wearing a grey double breasted suit with a yellow tie, matching trousers and black dress shoes.

She noticed that Michael had left her, and the primeval god of the heavens was motioning her to sit down on the unoccupied couch, which she did obediently. She bit her lip and waited, never tearing her gaze from the glass table.

"Annabeth Chase," Hemera began. "I am sure you have heard from the son of Apollo about why you are here."

She nodded in agreement and waited for her to continue. "That is true."

Her eyes widened. "But Lady Hemera..." she trailed off, failing to see the disapproving glance when she mentioned the lady part. "I.. I just got here!"

"Yes, we know. But this needs to be issued shortly; had we been aware that the enemy is making their first move," Aether said to her grimly.

"They would want to destroy everything- Olympus, piece by piece," Hemera continued, "So of course they would start at the camps to kill the gods' beloved children before advancing on their mountain.

"They will send out a small group- a group of four to five people, no less- to infiltrate the camps' borders and destroy them from the inside; slowly and carefully so that it would go by almost unnoticed. Or they could do what they did previously: come in as new campers and gain trusts, then rub it in their enemies'- the gods'- faces that their most powerful heroes belong to the other side. Or in simple words, they accept and are proud of their treason to the gods.

"Or another thing they can do is have a spy in our army- this army. The spy would go with you in this mission to protect the camps, and they would play their roles under your noses.

"My mother and father are not stupid; they are witty and cunning. They can have better people than ours, like that Jackson boy, under their rule," she finished, making Annabeth flinch at the name. "They can find many ways."

"But of course, we have our own," Aether added in, smiling. "You will be trained to perfection. You can pick three people to accompany you on this mission. You will be separated into two equal groups. Two people for each camp. Make sure you balance the groups. Be prepared, Annabeth Chase, you will leave in three days time."

"Three days?" she sputtered. "B-but.. I'll.. I'll still train right? Three days isn't enough!"

"We have already planned that out. This is where he comes in," Hemera answered, gesturing to the long-haired man. He nodded.

"I am Chronos, primeval god of time."

Annabeth blinked at him and gave a small bow. "Lord Chronos."

"Yes," Aether chimed in. "You owe my dear friend here. He will make the time extremely slow for the next two days for you to learn everything you need to. That is a lot of work for him, so you should make the best of you can tomorrow and the day after that."

"Thank you, Lord Chronos."

"You are welcome, dear Annabeth. Now, who shall you pick as your companions in your mission?"

Annabeth held her chin thoughtfully. Some of her old friends are here, so it shouldn't be that hard on picking. She could pick both Silena and Beckendorf, but they would no doubt, not wanted to be separated, because she's going to Camp Half-Blood herself, and they weren't too familiar with the Roman camp. She could, perhaps, bring Abigail with her to her own Greek camp, and two others.

Or- no, decide who to get first. Lee is a healer, Michael is an archer, Beckendorf can repair weapons and Silena- Silena is an average fighter. She still doesn't know what Abigail can do, but she's considering of picking her. Okay, so she'll get.. yes, them.

"I think I'll have Abigail, Lee, and Michael," she decided.

Chronos nodded. "Very well. Now go; inform them. Prepare. Train. Three days, Annabeth Chase."

Annabeth smiled and stood up. She bowed to them and ran out of the palace to tell her friends.

"You didn't actually tell her, Aether."

"Oh, I will. Be patient, my friend."

* * *

"To Athena, Aether, Hemera and Chronos."

She sat down on the picnic bench next to Abby.

After a few bites, Abby turned to the daughter of Athena.

"I heard from Michael- you got a mission?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "I was wondering if you could join me. Would you?"

"I don't know," she replied uncertainly. "What do we have to do?"

"Well.. We would protect the two camps from the dark side, and... Olympus as well, for that matter."

Abby nodded thoughtfully. "When will we leave?"

"Um... I still have to train, but they said; in three days."

She blinked at her friend. "That's a lot of time to train," she claimed sarcastically.

Annabeth sighed. "I know. Would you come? I mean, you've had a lot of training before, right?"

Abby smiled at her. "Yeah, sure. I'll come. Who else would?"

"Actually, I was going to ask Michael and Lee; do you know where they are?"

The daughter of Aether nodded and pointed to a nearby table full of boys of different ages. Annabeth stood and walked up to the table, spotting the two brothers. She told them about the mission and they accepted, excited with the fact that one of them could see some of their old friends.

After dinner, she left for the barracks with Abby. Once in their room, she changed into her PJs and jumped into bed, burying herself within the covers. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, hoping for once to have a peaceful night's sleep.

Oh, how rotten her luck was.

For another countless time, she found herself in a dark cavern, dimly lit by faint red light. Tartarus. She turned, bracing herself for who she might see today. But it was not one of those nightmares.

She was lucky, after all.

At a good distance from where she was standing were two silhouettes leaning against a wall. Judging from their figures, Annabeth could tell that one was male and the other were female, like a couple. But if ever they were, Annabeth was wondering: why would they choose to date at a dark, hideous place like this? From what she knows- which was a lot- there are many better, and more beautiful places around. Unless… those people were who she thinks they were.

"Happy birthday," greeted the female figure. Her voice was warm and loving, like one particular goddess she knew. But it couldn't be her. It was… someone else.

The male figure sat up straight, leaning away from the wall. Even if Annabeth could not see his face, she was positive that he was smiling. He leaned closer the female figure and closed the gap. Annabeth had to look away when she saw his face. She still couldn't see the face of the female one; but whoever that was, Annabeth swore to find her and kill her.

"Thanks. I did not really expect that you'd know."

The girl chuckled. "I have my ways," she reminded him. "Here, I have a gift for you." She produced a chain necklace. Annabeth was sure about that part, but she didn't get too see whatever was hooked up through it. She shrugged it off. It wasn't important; probably it was just bare or something.

The boy unclasped the ends and slid it past his neck. He clasped it back it examined it. Suddenly, he inhaled sharply. "Oh my," he said disbelievingly. "Gods. This is.. Wow. I mean just… Wow. I like it already. Thanks again." He thanked her and engulfed her in a hug.

She giggled. "There's more," she said, and Annabeth hear the smile in her words. The way they act was like… They have known each other forever. She had to restrain herself from puking. "Tap it twice."

He did, and suddenly, he was housed in black armor with a vambrace on his left arm. Quickly, it turned into a black shield, spiraling around like a pizza. The boy was clearly pleased of the gift, but before Annabeth could take a good look at it, the scene shook and dissolved, like a building crumbling after an earthquake.

And then, another scene popped into view. It was white this time. She was in a white room.

_A message_, she realized.

She turned, and behind her was a small puddle. She looked into it. At first, all she could see is her reflection, and then the water rippled, changing the picture and becoming a shape of a... man. The man was.. gently caressing something on his neck.

She heard a distant echo; a sound; a voice.

_Spot... Achilles heel... Care... Love... Nice... Achilles heel... Symbol... Kill..._

* * *

**An' that's it!**

**Wait, is that long enough? Sorry...**

**Anyway, I'm back to ma' old self, I'll thank these peeps who very much voiced their opinions, or clicked the little boxes! **(sorry if your pen name didn't show up)**  
**

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**Reviews:  
ACOOLGUY** **- Yes, thank you for hoping for more awesomeness, because, really, it's ironic. Your name sould be ANAWESOMEGUY not ACOOLGUY. :)**

**jacksonpotterridefan101 - Yes I did, thanks for the OC! Let's just see if she would take part in the later chapters.. And as for those people, those are the five assassins. :')  
**

**Anyhow, good reading! Hope you liked it~ -Smartzyfan**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi. Still good?**

**I hope. This here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Annabeth bolted upright, gasping for air.

_What... What was that?_

She thought as she glanced at the clock Abby gave to her on her nightstand. It was still pretty early. Looking around, seeing as her roommates were still passed out on their beds, she lied back down on her warm and comfortable bed, thinking about her dream.

It was strange. There was this distant voice... It was powerful. Annabeth became fearful of its source. Its hisses runs shivers down her spine. Although it said _love _and _care_, it was as if.. those things were used for something... opposite as that. The voice was... enticing in an different way. What was it..? A statement? A command? Temptation? What was it?

Annabeth rolled over such that she was facing her bookshelf. She began to eye every book label critically, as if they would spout out her answers. A question abruptly crossed her mind. _Who was it? Who was _his_ patron?_

Suddenly feeling the pain of thinking about leaving her warm bed, with such difficulty, she stood up in front of the bookshelf, running her fingers through the engraved titles of the thick Ancient Greek books. She glanced back at her nightstand. Only one minute has passed. It seems that Chronos' tricks are put to work. Turning back to her tall bookshelf, she let her eyes travel wide in search of a certain word. And...

Aha!

Here it is, at last she found one damned book about it. She glanced back at her nightstand for a brief moment before turning back at the seemingly obese book. No matter, she has a whole lot of time to read it. Carefully pulling the book out between two more of its fat fellows, she almost dropped it of its sheer weight. She shifted the huge writing in her arms so the front faces her.

She scanned the cover. The cover art was black and white, and two symmetrical red shapes- which appeared to be glowing- were hovering just below the title: _A World of Darkness_. Dark. Darkness. It is the very same.

After minutes- the truth: hours- of searching, she came to find only one.

**_Ἔρεβος ("βαθύ σκοτάδι, σκιά") ήταν οι Πρωτογένους του σκότους, σύζυγος του Nyx (νύχτα), των οποίων η σκοτεινή ομίχλη τύλιξε τα άκρα του κόσμου, και γεμίζουν τις βαθιές κοιλότητες της γης. Γυναίκα Nyx του επέστησε αυτά ομίχλες σε όλη την ουρανούς για να φέρει νύχτα στον κόσμο, ενώ η κόρη του Hemera τα διάσπαρτα φέρνοντας ημέρα: ένα σύστημα μπλοκαρίσματος από το φως του..._**

_"Erebus ("deep darkness, shadow") was the Protogenos of darkness, consort of Nyx (night), whose dark mists enveloped the edges of the world, and filled the deep hollows of the earth. His wife Nyx drew these mists across the heavens to bring night to the world, while his daughter Hemera scattered them bringing day: one blocking out the light of..." Blah blah blah. I already know that part_, Annabeth disregarded the following text.

She looked back at the first sentence. According to the fat book, Erebus was a personification of darkness and shadows. It very much explains how he and his companions can shadow-travel. But still, why jump in the pit? As far as she knows, the protogenos of nothingness and the protogenos of darkness do not go along well. She, once again, searches the overly informed book all about blackness.

* * *

Shining bright sunlight rudely woke Annabeth up from her slumber. She stirred, agitated. She was sure her bed was a good ten feet away from the window. Nevertheless, as Mr. Sun calls for rise and shine, she opened her eyes slowly. After a few moments, she realized that she was not in her bed anymore. Heck, she was not even in her room.

She jumped up, and soon felt blunt pain enter her foot. She looked down to see the fat Ancient Greek writing having all the time in the world to trample her foot with its heavy butt. She gingerly picked up the book, her eyes twitching in annoyance. As she did so, she remembered that she had been leaning against her tall bookshelf since dawn, reading the gods damned book. How she got here in the open; she had no idea on that.

Thankfully, her answers were given as Aether and Hemera materialized next to her. They saw her puzzled look and started to explain. By the time they finished, Annabeth was pale as a sheet. Apparently, she overslept the schedule and they had to wake her up. They let it pass, since they admitted that they forgot to tell her, and this was her first day of training; but the next day, it wouldn't be so pretty if it happened again.

Aether, before beginning, questioned her of the book. She told him that she was curious and was seeking answers of who _his_ patrons are, or who the enemies are, and that it was a part of planning- a daughter of Athena thing. It was true, but she didn't tell him the exact reason.. or the root of this spark of curiosity that came over her. Luckily, they didn't notice and bought it.

Annabeth watched as Hemera beckoned someone to come to them. A guy in a tuxedo stepped towards them. She noticed that he was taller than an average human- about seven feet. He had black hair tied in a ponytail, and a thinning beard on his chin. His face- his face was covered in scratches, like he'd been attacked by a small animal.

She scrunched her eyebrows at him as he extended his hand to her. "I am Prometheus. Pleased to meet you, Annabeth Chase."

She was so surprised that she almost forgot his waiting hand. Hemera just smiled at her while Prometheus didn't seem to mind.

"Now Annabeth," she told her, "He is the one to train you with mentality-based abilities. Seeing as you use your brain a lot, this is perfect for you. Tomorrow, you will be trained in using weapons, battle strategies, and battle styles, and one more important thing added to that. Don't worry, we'll tell you tomorrow. Train hard."

The daughter of Athena just nodded as they flashed away, and turned to the titan of forethought. She met his scrutinizing gaze in her own calculating ones. After a few minutes of staring each down, Prometheus blinked and spoke up, "Let's start with a test to your intelligence quotient."

* * *

Annabeth lied down beneath the shade, sighing at the sweat beads running down her face. She had no idea that Magneto, A.K.A. Prometheus trains this hard. So far, she was learning to master psychokinesis, she had learned telepathy, and was still learning to control psionic blasts, and got better control of the Mist, which has memory manipulation and partial mind control beneath its covers.

_Lord Chronos_, she prayed, _What time is it?_

_It is four hours, fifty-two minutes, and forty-six seconds past_ _noon_, Chronos replied, making Annabeth roll her eyes._ Why?  
_

_Nothing, my Lord, just asking._ After the thought, the wisdom's daughter stood up and brushed herself off.

She walked back to her 'psychopathic' mentor and said that she was ready for the last go. Prometheus nodded and summoned a wooden table, then stepped back. She looked at the object and tried not to glare at it, but just gave it a hardened stare that maybe if it was animate, it would've cracked its legs from underneath itself.

Right then, she felt her heart beat faster, pumping more up to her head. One of the table's legs lifted up an inch, then higher, and then the other legs follow, and higher, until the table was levitating a foot from the ground. She still wasn't breaking a sweat. No- not for long.

She knit her eyebrows and urged the table to float up higher, using her psychokinetic abilities that were proved strong because of her higher than genius' intelligence quotient, and a little bit of resistance to headaches. The table floated up two feet more. Prometheus told her that it should be as tall as him. Meaning: four more feet to go.

Or she could just slice it to pieces and hold the tabletop at his level. Alas, a much easier way is always not allowed.

She was very tempted to lift her hand up to make it launch, but that was the point. This time, she needs do it with her mind, and mind alone. She was done with the hands first thing before.

As a test, Prometheus asked her to lift the table up- five feet above the titan's head. She had done that with a lot of work at first, then it became easier and easier. It just proved that her mental ability is so evolved, she could do it without raising her hand. Which needs additional training.

Thinking about those made her lose her concentration. Annabeth noticed that the table sank a feet. She pursed her lips and stared, turning her full attention back to the wooden table. It floated back to where it was before. Time to rise it up.

Annabeth lowered her head a tad, still providing a line of sight towards the table. Her eyes became slightly glazed over, and the table began to levitate up higher. She was starting to sweat a little yet she had broken so much sweat once before- it didn't bother her. Prometheus watched as she stood there, unmoving; the table as if feeling her gaze was rising up in the air, the tabletop almost at his eye level. He had to admit though, he was impressed.

Even if the time was slowed down extremely, it still counts as a day. And on that day, she managed to learn what she can, and almost mastered what should be mastered. It was a lot of progress, indeed, the progress needing patience, endurance, and perseverance. He realized that it was inspiration that drove her to this much, and he almost felt sorry for her. _Why can't she understand?_

With an exhale of mirth, Annabeth managed to rise the table six inches above the titan's head. Now she just had to wait for him to tell her to put it down. Now looking back on him, it appears that he was studying her. She looked up at him and blinked, and before she could say anything, he spoke.

"Very good," he praised. "You've mastered it. A thing that you should be happy for."

He gestured for her to put it down. And as she did, he said, "Now for your last test, before we call it a day."

She said a 'ready' to his mind, making him nod in approval. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. A small ball of psychic energy formed in her hand, enlarging as she concentrated and urged it to become larger. If she makes it too large, though, it will result into a massive headache, which is very much uncalled for in a battlefield.

The ball began to take a certain color, her signature color grey, if ever she wants to induce pain; and more as darker hues of grey: pain, unconsciousness, memory loss, severe brain damage, or the worst, death. She then raises her hand slowly towards Prometheus, making it a slightly lighter shade of a dark grey. The ball sent a message clearly: I'll give you pain. Head pain- sucks- for you.

She hurled it onto the titan. He closed his eyes as he felt himself go into a head-splitting migraine, then finally leaving him alone- at peace- five seconds later. He felt wobbly, but didn't move. As he felt he was steady, he opened his eyes to meet her own, grey orbs shining with hope and anticipation. After a stare-down competition, Prometheus smiled.

"You are quite the fast learner, Annabeth Chase. Master it on your own. Let me call this a day."

* * *

"Good night, Annabeth."

"G'night."

Annabeth sighed as she rolled over to face her clock. She grabbed it and set it on time. Then after a hesitant moment, she held it up and stared it down. The clock lifted itself up and placed itself gently on her nightstand.

She glanced behind her- at the obese piece of Ancient Greek text that she brought back physically- and narrowed her eyes at it.

_We're not finished, you fat book. I was just starting with you._

* * *

**Ohohoho!**

**Annabeth Chase VS _A World of Darkness_! Who d'ya think will win?**

**Anyways.. my email page is kinda buggy, so I can't thank the favs and alerts by name, but yeah, I'll just thank you wholly! SO YEAH THANKS FOR THE FAVORITES AND FOLLOWS! And for some of the reviews...**

**AlexisFoy27 - **Thanks for naming it, "mysterious". I can't think of anything else to describe it with, really. :) And you are welcome!**  
ACOOLGUY - **Hi. You know what, me too! Pertemis is my favorite, Artemis is just so awesome, and cool, and *ahem*. Yeah, catch my drift? I.. really don't know what to do with the pairings, but yeah, whatever.

**Thank you and I'll see you, next time! ~Smartzyfan**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, fanfiction people!**

**I dun really have anything more to say, other than I forgot that I was supposed to update yesterday so I started writing late. Or.. Yeah, a bit um... I dunno, I feel more like playing than writing, but since I love you peeps, I'll update.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

Chapter 6

_Hmm... Here we are.._

**_Τάρταρος ("ταρτάρ εξωσκελετικών τις πλευρές βαρέλια, άβυσσος") είναι η βαθιά άβυσσο που χρησιμοποιείται ως ένα μπουντρούμι του μαρτυρίου και τα βάσανα για το_**_**κακό.**..?_

_No, um.. the deity.. Let's see..._

_****__Τάρταρος_ **("λάκκος της ανυπαρξία") ****_ήταν οι Πρωτογένους του_** η μεγάλη θυελλώδης Ταρτάριος λάκκο που βρισκόταν κάτω από τη γη. Ο λάκκος είχε φανταστεί το...

_Tartarus ("pit of nothingness") was the Protogenos of the great stormy Tartarean pit that lay beneath the earth. The pit was imagined as the.._, she trailed off, reading the rest of the sentence silently. She shivered.

_No_, she thought to herself._ I already know what's in it. I don't want to imagine._

_-*Last Morning*-_

Annabeth closed the book, frustrated. The whole night, she had been searching _A World of Darkness_ for the certain god of the pit, only to find that it only has information about this and that of Erebus, this and that of his consort Nyx, blah blah blah, all about the two of them.

It was now resting in the second to the last bottom row of the bookshelf, some pages sticking out at the top- due to her frustration almost getting the best of her. She was tempted, indeed, _very_ tempted to tear the fat and heavy nightmare page by page.

Fortunately, before she could do so, the book was saved when a word caught Annabeth's eye, another engraved title at the side of the book showing. She had reluctantly put the writing in her hands down, and approached the book which Annabeth was thankful for- it was thinner and smaller. The title was a gold engraving, the cover was dark reddish, and the rest was black. She had read the title.

_The Realm of__ Hades_.

She eyed the book warily, as if finding any traps that might spout out some hellhounds while she was reading. Deciding that it was clean, she put the book in her backpack, which she had prepared before scanning the whole fat darkness book.

Apparently, they were leaving today, at the darkness of the night. She had suggested that it wasn't a good idea, providing that the enemies were more powerful in the night. Aether countered, and was right after much thinking, after saying that should they go out when the enemies least expect it.

_Yeah right, what if _we_ meet them when we least expected it? _she thought mockingly.

Annabeth got up to go to the arena, not wishing to have a punishment for being late. She sheathed the dagger in the hidden scabbard at her hip, and sprinted to the arena, receiving and greeting some sleepy hellos along the way. Soon enough, she got into the arena, empty except for a weapon rack, a large tree, and an obvious covered pit trap below one of the trees biggest branches.

Of course, her instructors were there too. There were three of them. The two were clearly Aether and Hemera.

The other guy was housed in white armor, pretty much like what Aether was currently wearing. He was leaning on a sword that he must have chucked on the ground, and a spear was strapped to his back. His skin was light, his lips were a very pale pink, he had sky blue eyes and has greyish mane of shoulder length hair, visibly messy like he didn't bother to comb it. He nodded at her in greeting.

Hemera regarded her with a smile. "Annabeth. Your last day of training," she told her. "Are you ready?"

Annabeth nodded. "What will I do today?"

"I and another friend here will train you in combat, styles, and strategies," Aether answered. "We will train with that up until an hour noon, and Hemera will train you with the rest until.. before dinner, I believe."

The 'friend' Aether was talking about leaned away from his sword and pulled it out, sheathing it afterwards. He stuck out his hand. "My name is Ouranos," he smiled.

Annabeth shook his hand, staring at Ouranos, as if in a trance, "The original Lord of the Sky."

"That would be me, yes."

"Now Annabeth," Aether said, making Annabeth snap out of her trance and turn to him. "Let us train."

* * *

"Ow! Could you be more gentle?!"

"Um, yeah sure." He apologized, "Sorry Annabeth."

The daughter of Athena nodded as the son of Apollo continued bandaging her one injured arm, while she ate a sandwich with the other. Lee took a flask of nectar resting on the table near them and took a swig, before going back to doing his work.

"So, child of wisdom," he said jokingly. "What did they teach you, huh? This one's pretty deep."

"New fighting styles," she murmured. "Was not familiar with it. Never got a chance to dodge that one strike."

"Is that right?" he asked. When he received a nod, he continued, "You're lucky, really. You only got one, while I freaking got four. Two were left on me as scars. Anyway, what else did they teach you? And what other fighting styles?"

"Further Greek stances and attack poses and all other of the Roman," she said but paused for a while to take a bite and swallow. "They also taught me to handle other weapons. But then I thought: weapons equals literally everything, really."

The son of Apollo arched an eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked curiously. "They taught you that? I was only taught to handle the most common weapons- the ones most warriors wield: sword, spear, bow, dagger. How come you learn those?"

She shrugged. "Maybe because I was a special case- a peacekeeper," she implied, shaking the bread crumbs off her fingers, before she turned to him with an expression of somewhat annoyance and incredulity. "Honestly, aren't you supposed to know? I mean, I just arrived here four days ago, and you're already here- when was it- five centuries ago?!"

Lee held his hands up in surrender. "Hey! I.. I forgot, okay!" he reasoned. "I'm a hyperactive kid who can't sit still in class. Blame the ADHD."

The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes. "I have ADHD, too," she said shortly, cutting the cloth and finishing it before patting the bandaged forearm for good measure. "And I don't forget lessons."

He sighed in exasperation. "That's because you're a daughter of Athena," he replied in a whiny voice. "I'm not a son of your mom, the goddess of wisdom."

"_Your_ dad is the god of knowledge and intellect," she countered, before smirking slightly. "But obviously, you didn't inherit those traits."

Lee glared at her and looked like he wanted to argue, but he just huffed and grumbled, "Whatever."

Annabeth stood up, smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "I'll be going now. I don't want Lady Hemera making my time to sleep into rude, sunny nights that could wake up even you. Oh, and prepare your pack before dinner. We'll be leaving after that."

Without waiting for an answer, Annabeth shuffled out of the infirmary and out of the palace/headquarters. She headed straight to the arena, finding not anymore a weapon rack but a table with four chairs, two occupied by Aether and Ouranos. The two were playing a card game that looked suspiciously like... actually she didn't even recognize it.

Hemera was standing behind Aether, watching them with her arms crossed. When the goddess saw her, she faced her and smiled.

"Annabeth. I take it you are ready for your last.. lesson?"

The daughter of Athena nodded. "Yes. What... will we do?" she asked cautiously, not liking the pause on the 'lesson'. She knew what that means. For gods' sake, when people pause before a word, they weren't thinking of that next word. They were thinking something other than that. And usually, it's much worse.

"I would take this seriously, if I were you," she chided, before announcing, "Coping with your greatest weakness."

Annabeth gazed at her confusedly before it hit her. She began to have this look of horror in her eyes and she appeared to be in the brink of screaming her head off. Fortunately, she had increased her control when training with Prometheus, so she kept her cool. She blinked the horror out of her eyes before stammering out, "What...what will I do?"

"Simple. You just had to sit there, and try not to scream in a full ten seconds. If you do, we'll start over. If you managed to hold, we'll increase the duration of time until you can stand within the range of the arachnid in one hour. If we still have time, we'll try something out."

The daughter of Athena nodded and approached the goddess from where she was gesturing for her to come join her.

As she did, she remembered the pit trap. It was a two by two meter pit, a black cloth covering a screen which was blocking the passage, which made it impossible to look or fall into unless you take out one or both of the covers. Nearing it, she could hear small sounds of scuttling that made her shiver involuntarily. They were many.

She sat down cross-legged with her back against the bark of the tree, watching curiously as Hemera whispered something to her consort, who in response, nodded and waved his hand before putting on his headphones. Ouranos copied his gesture and did the same. Satisfied, the goddess of daytime went back to the tree and sat across from the daughter of Athena.

After realizing what the actions of the two Protogenoi were for, she felt offended.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose and faced Hemera. She had her hands behind her. The new peacekeeper dreaded the fact that the thing behind the goddess was the last thing she wanted to see in this cruel, filthy, cobweb-filled, spidery world.

Hemera took her hands from behind her to show a clenched hand. Annabeth took a deep breath and said, "I'm ready."

The goddess carefully unclenched her hand, while watching the demigod's in front of her- her eyes were slowly widening, her lips trembling, her hands shaking, but she _almost_ didn't scream when the arachnid was fully shown, and was inches from her face. The hairy creature stared at her, somewhat greedily.

All of a sudden, Annabeth felt sorry for Hemera. She felt sorry for Aether and Ouranos, which she shouldn't be, providing that they have their earphones/protectors, but still. She felt sorry for whoever was within her hearing range.

Keyword: almost.

* * *

_-*Meanwhile*-_

"Hey, hey, hey, assassins, regroup!"

Percy clapped his hands urgently, calling for his fellow assassins. They returned to where Percy was a few minutes later, and he had to grin in amusement.

Dianne and Judith came back together, giggling at Masters-know-what. The head assassin's question was answered when a clearly pissed off Mario followed stomping after them, his eyes twitching with the small twigs and leaves stuck in his hair. Kaemon followed after, trying and failing to keep a straight face. Mario was glaring at the three of them.

Before a fight could break out, Percy said, "They are leaving today."

All actions were cut- the girls stopped giggling and looked at him with an are-you-kidding-me face; and the boys stopped their epic face expressions to just look at him questioningly. The head assassin sighed. "I'm serious."

Dianne glanced at Judith who glanced back at her, before turning and telling Percy, "We already made traps that only works for mythological beings, so mortals won't get in the way." The daughter of Bellona nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Mario stated, glaring at the two before saying, "I also summoned badass monster groups all over, _and_ made sure that they know about the traps. So they wouldn't, you know, like, trip on their own feet."

"I helped him do that. But my monster groups are more controlled and balanced. I even had some to disguise," Kaemon added.

Percy grinned. "Great. Now that you've done that... Let me remind you that I am the 'Chosen One'," he told them as he extended his black wings. The others scoffed at him, muttering, "Lucky dog."

"So the Masters told me.. Actually they didn't. I just wanted to keep your groups even so that, oh I don't know, someone sane enough could prevent Mario from spontaneously killing someone."

"Why do you always blame the killing on me? Judith kills as brutally as me!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"DO TOO!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TO-"

"GUYS!" Percy shouted over the argument, and glared at the two, making them want a hole to swallow them and whimper in it. "Enough, okay! Cut that sh*t out!" He took a deep calming breath, before continuing in a much softer but firm tone, "As I was saying, I would make Dianne and Kaemon go together, and Judith and Mario go together. Should you have any objections, say it now."

None of the other assassins dared to speak a word. They wouldn't dare make any sarcastic comment for now, especially that their leader is a bit ticked off. Sure, he was fun and goofy _if_ he's not angry, and on a mission. And going on a mission just made his seriousness times two.

Percy nodded. "Good. Now choose what camp you'll be in-"

He never got to finish his sentence when two of the assassins shouted for the Roman camp. Those two were Judith and Dianne. They glared at each other. The boys just stayed neutral, watching. They wouldn't want to get in a fight between a daughter of a fierce, man-hating goddess and a daughter of a regal, warfare goddess.

Them working together was a clash with the others big enough, but them fighting each other = boom. Some girl joining them = oh, okay, she can handle it. Some guy joining them: a big no no. Even Percy- the most respected man in the army next to the Masters couldn't handle them.

They started telling each other verbal insults that made the spectators wince. Percy, seeing that he couldn't do anything, just walked up to the boys and asked them where they would want to go. Unlike the girls, Kaemon agreed to go to Camp Half-Blood while Mario agreed to go to Camp Jupiter, _peacefully_. The head of the assassins told them what they needed to do in going to their respective camps.

Before flying off though, Percy clapped them on the back and said, "Good luck."

* * *

**Yay! The chapter six is finished!**

**So how was it? Please tell me your opinions on this chapter!**

**I'm just going to thank all the people who read, reviewed the last chapter, and followed and favored this story. I definitely, really appreciate it. Well then, stay tuned, and wait for chapter seven. Expect it in.. what, three days?**

**Good morning/afternoon/evening/night, peeps! -Smartzyfan**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi..**

**Okay, I know, I lied when I said I'll be back for three days, 'cause I'm not actually a stick-to-the-plan kind of person. If you want to hear my reasons, go ahead, it's at the bottom. I'll make it up to you.. I'll try...**

**Well, here it is! Hope it's long enough to make up for you. :)**

* * *

Chapter 7

"Look out, Braniac!"

She leaped out of the way, and a club was brought down from where she just stood, grinding the dry leaves beneath it.

Lexter stepped on the club just as it was raised, and he jumped, swinging his sword on a downward arc towards the Cyclops' head. Two golden arrows found their way buried into the monster's back. Its knees buckled, and it dissolved into what was caking the dirty ground.

Alyssa dusted herself off, standing up and turned to see Aria walking to her with a concerned face. "You alright?" she asked.

She nodded. "Yes," she answered, before she turned to Mitch, her face twisted in annoyance. "What did you call me?"

Mitch was innocently playing with his bowstring, then looked up confused when he noticed he was being addressed. "Hmm?"

"Nothing," Alyssa shook her head. "There are many monsters out today. I mean, more than usual."

"I know right," Lexter piped up cheerfully. "Last time I checked, demigods don't get assaulted _all the time_ with _packs_ of monsters."

"You're so wrong," Alyssa murmured sarcastically.

"It's true! Five hundred years ago, they don't-"

"She was being sarcastic! Gods, Lex!"

"Uh, yeah. Of course I knew that."

"Riiiiiight."

"Anyway!" Aria interrupted, making them jump. "Let's get going. We don't want these monsters slowing us down."

They all nodded and started to walk out of the snowy forest nearing the Canadian borders. As if realizing this, Mitch turned to Alyssa.

"Um..." he murmured uncertainly. "Why exactly are we here, this far? I mean, you could have just flashed us like, near the pine tree, you know!"

"It was not me. It was Lord Aether's doing," she tried to reason, but Mitch heard none of it because his own voice flooded his ears, blocking out all the other noises.

"We're still nowhere near either of the two camps, and we're being assaulted constantly by heavy packs of monsters!"

"I told you, it's Lord Aether's doing. There has to be some kind of reason. So please, just quit complaining and don't jinx it."

Mitch opened his mouth and looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it. He nodded to himself and kept walking, tugging on his bowstring.

They walked for a few moments of silence. Lexter and Mitch would occasionally talk about archery and healing, but both would die down eventually. Aria glanced at Alyssa, who seemed lost in thought. Curious, she nudged her.

She looked up at her, who raised an eyebrow. She sighed and motioned for her to come closer.

"I had this weird dream, and I can't take my mind off it. Something tells me that the dream was somewhat important; I don't really know, but it doesn't make sense to me whatsoever," she explained, before groaning in frustration. Oh how she hated not knowing things.

Aria studied her curiously. "What is it? Maybe I can help you with that," she offered.

"I'd tell you, but I wanted to think this out first. Come to think of it, I've brought a book with me; I just hope that it gives me the answers I want. But thank you for the offer," she looked at her apologetically, with a hint of appreciation.

"Um, okay, I guess."

Silence reigned upon them once again. Aria joined in the little discussion the brothers had, leaving Alyssa to her thoughts. The powerful voice in her dream, the man, the gift. Why was it shown to her? What was it about, anyway?

They weren't exactly given any orders from Aether and Hemera; they only sent them to, maybe, help with the rehabilitation and all that. And if they were going to fight with them against the dark side, won't their help be to little? Four people? She isn't really the best either; just a lowly peacekeeper with mental-based powers- and sure, she was a decent fighter, who has the most pathetic fear of spiders.

That didn't really help the thought.

Her thoughts drifted back to their mission. She thought of a lead. Okay, they will protect the two camps from spies and assassins. They will try their bests to minimize the deaths and captives- or not let anything at all, if they could help it. That all adds to a pile of work. Sure. Let the oh so powerful warriors of the light handle the job. Piece of cake.

Note the sarcasm. She could already anticipate the work they were going to have. Protect two camps with four people. Even the own residents of the camps- which were a rough 500 all together, had almost given out with a separated 600 of a monster army, had the traitors help with that. So how will they manage with four people, without the traitors- dang, why are traitors always powerful- and decreased army?

Most importantly, how would they defeat the traitors? Beforehand it all, they had shown superiority in all types of battle and all of them looked as though they could make up a whole new strategy in one blink. She wasn't that sure with _him_, though. At times, she wished that he had stayed dumb and slow, and this was one of those times.

She knew one thing. If he wants something, he makes sure he gets it. Revenge. That's what he wants. They all knew that the sea does not like to be restrained. A lot of things from the sea reflected on him. Calm and cool, but vicious and deadly. She's sure that he's moving again, towards the camps, out for blood. There were friends there. _His _friends. That's evil. Is the sea evil?

No, I guess not.

It's like an animal. It doesn't kill without a reason. The sea acts by its creatures. When you pollute it, they strike. Mother Nature does not like it. She sends typhoons and tsunamis. And no, she's not referring to Gaea.

When they harm the son of the sea, he strikes back. He gets revenge, on them, and them only. Last time, he doesn't do that. He doesn't get revenge. But she found out that she was wrong, tenfolds at that. He harmed everyone who allied with them, who are the only ones who hurt him. Yet, he doesn't fully have a cold heart.

He doesn't forget. He didn't forget all the things that some gods did for him. He spared them. He had a small look of sympathy for the goddess of the hunt because he hadn't been able to spare her fully. She was shackled, not by him, but by his companion. He did not stop them though.

He didn't.

Yes, he doesn't forget. Five hundred years, and he did not forget. Mainly, the betrayal. The pain. The misery. She knows how that felt. She had felt it too, seeing him over at the enemy with an angry look on his face. She, too, did not forget what happened five centuries ago.

Funny how she knew so many things about the sea. About him. It was nothing to laugh about. After all, it had been true that they spent so much time together. And... and she broke it all.

Alyssa shook her head. This was no time wallowing in her self-pity. They had a mission to do! And if- no, think positive- when they succeeded, the camps would be safe, the gods- oh man- the gods would be taken out of Tartarus, hopefully- no! definitely, yeah; definitely, they would be taken out of Tartarus.

She sighed. Why must the Fates be so cruel?

* * *

_It's always a good time!_

"WOOOAAAAAAH! WOOAAAAH, IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME!"

Alyssa's eye twitched. Her ears started to feel itchy and she could practically feel a headache coming. That's a bad thing. She has a bit of a resistance to headaches. And the constant, loud, ear-piercing screams known as singing _certainly _weren't helping. In fact, it made all things worse.

Glancing at the traffic light, it showed red. It looked like it would be anytime then, so she looked at the back with the rear-view mirror. Behind her seat, sitting was Lexter. He was singing at the top of his voice- and here she thought that Apollo kids sing quite well, even high pitches. But- yes, in fact they do, because these were exaggerated. He was screaming, not singing.

Beside him, at the back of Mitch's seat, who was also screaming his head off, was Aria. She was sinking into the leather seat with a pissed expression- no doubt trying to escape the torture she was currently in. She caught her eye and glared, before pressing her ear to the window; one hand supporting her chin, and another clutching her head, at the same time covering the other ear.

In short, in Alyssa's opinion, and contradicting to the song, _It's freaking not._

You see, after walking a few miles and talking, none of them knew how to flash, or teleport, or like that. Not that they could, anyway. So they opted to find a ride. But just with their luck, all of the abandoned vehicles they came across had empty gas tanks. And then, well, they crossed ways with a particularly dumb mortal. They didn't want to steal, but.. they did.

And now here they were. Having to put up with two music addicts- two singing banshees. Fortunately, just now, two good things happened once they loaded the vehicle. One, they had arrived in Seattle, and two, the song ended and changed. Oh yes, fortune, indeed.

_If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go  
I can take you place you ain't never been before  
Baby take a chance or you'll never ever know  
I got money in my hands that I'd really like to blow_

Alyssa sighed as she drove to the nearest McDonald's, just to rest and eat. At least the guys calmed down a tad, singing a few tones down below the last. Okay, the song hit her. _If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go._

He never, never let her go. Until she did it herself. It was a miracle her mother didn't disown her; her previous actions was not that of a child of the wisdom goddess', but she guessed that she can't do it... in her current situation.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. She wouldn't think that- not now. She could plan to save her later. But for now...

She pulled up. "Guys, let's make a stop here. I'm starving."

The boys cheered in agreement as they all filed out of the vehicle. They went in the fast food as soon as they did, while Alyssa made sure to check the car was locked. She didn't really mind it being stolen- it's just that, she didn't want to plow the whole city to find another dumb lonely mortal with a car filled, keys inside, enough room, and all that crap- just no way.

Alyssa found the boys and sat across from them. Aria was not here, so she reckoned that she was getting the food. She craned her neck to see past the gleeful, lively sons of Apollo, and saw that Aria was still at the end of the line. Not impressed by the thought of entertaining the boys- oh, boys- that sat across from her, she reached into her pack and brought out the only book that she brought with her- not fun, therefore not about architecture; frustrating, because searching could be like that- _The Realm of Hades_.

She was about to open the book when Mitch seemed to notice it just now. "Hey Annie, what's that?"

Alyssa glanced up at him annoyed. "Nothing, _Michael_," she turned her attention back to the book. "And don't call me that."

"But _Annieeee_!"

She ignored him and turned the page to a certain section of the book and began to read, turning oblivious to her surroundings.

Mitch eyed Alyssa as she began to read, her eyes darting around the page as if looking for a hidden enemy. He glanced at his brother Lexter to see him bobbing his head up and down and humming some tunes, with headphones on his ears. He straightened his back and looked over his shoulder. Aria was now in front and ordering.

He turned his head back to watch Alyssa, who appeared to be lost in thought. He could tell that she was no longer reading, staring at one point of the page. What could it be? But then sitting here now, having even only a little bit of time to relax and think things, why not?

He sighed. Mitch realized that so much- oh indeed, so much- could happen in five centuries in the life of a demigod. Well yeah, five centuries since he died. From what Annabeth had told them- he thought that there was more to it; she was hiding something- they had won the Second Titan War, thank the gods, his death was worth it.

Then another old times war resurfaced: the Giant War, the war with Gaea her sons, the Gigantes. It appears- long story short- they have, yet again, won the war in favor of the gods. With the help of the most powerful demigod hero, yet again. And then.. what happened? They had peace for five hundred years, and until then, they hadn't noticed that the hero- Percy- was missing?

There is something wrong here.

Annabeth told him that theoretically, he was on the enemies side for five centuries, two years after Mitch died. She told him that he was missing at that time. But that still got Mitch thinking. Why did they not look for him, if it was only a suspicion that he was at the enemies' side?

Okay, he was confused now. Percy had many friends- loyal friends; he returns the loyalty- and he goes missing, then Annabeth told him that they didn't go look for him? Why wouldn't they come looking for him? Especially Annabeth? Last time he checked, both were clearly in love, everyone could see that- except the lovers of course. And here he remembers part of the story that he disappeared just after the Titan War, and she goes worried sick for him, and gone over crazy to places in hopes to find him. He furrowed his eyebrows. Annabeth's not telling him something.

Something is definitely wrong here.

Before he could continue on with his train of thought, it got broken by a thud. He almost jumped out of his seat, while Lexter did not seem bothered. He looked up at Aria who was smiling like a Cheshire cat, and sat down beside Alyssa, who was putting her book away. She glanced at everyone; Alyssa who was eying the food nervously as if they were coated with poison, Lexter who was already chomping down his double cheeseburger while bobbing his head to the beat of his song, and Mitch who was eating another double cheeseburger, chewing absentmindedly.

Aria shrugged this off and began to attack her salad, firstly munching on the chicken happily. She wasn't really a meat lover; she's more of a vegetarian, but the chicken is just too tasty to resist.

Alyssa watched them carefully as she took a bite from her cheeseburger- a normal cheeseburger, thank the gods Abby knew that she does not eat much like the boys; boys are boys anyway, they eat more than girls because they have bigger stomachs, especially growing, teenage boys. But they're not exactly growing- they're immortal. Well, yeah, they grow in age, just that- Alyssa wasn't so sure if they grow mature; or if the physical growing are like toning muscles and all that.

But they're still male teenagers. They had died teenagers and got immortalized teenagers. They probably won't change. Probably. Let's hope.

She dismissed the thought of male teenagers and turned back to biting on her cheeseburger, her careful demeanor transforming to carefree.

* * *

"Yay! Romans, we're here!"

They ran to the guarded tunnel leading to the Roman camp. Why run, when they have a car, you say? Well... they kind of ditched it because just as they were nearing, the engine died for whatever reason. None of them truly were mechanics, so they don't know how to fix it at some point, so they decided to continue on foot. Besides, a little exercise doesn't hurt.

When they reached the tunnel, they were stopped by two soldiers in Roman armor demanding their names and business.

Alyssa stepped forward. "I'm Alyssa, these are Aria, Mitch and Lexter. We're here because our master sent us," she told them. "Um, have you been informed of any help coming?"

The guards exchanged looks before turning back to them. "In fact, Mars told us to be ready to accept it. Why?"

Alyssa looked unsure at what she was going to say and glanced at her companions, who gave her an encouraging nod. "We are those help sent by our master, Lord Aether. A.. little bit of help."

The guards glanced at each other mischievously smiling, as though this amused them. "Come with me," the female guard said before turning on her heel, leading the four through the tunnel. The four conversed quietly as they walked, not wanting the Roman to hear them. Unknown to them, she was hearing the whole thing clear as day.

"Abby will be at Camp Half-Blood, I want to try Roman ways," whispered the blonde. The female guard snorted. A daughter of Athena... in Rome. Unwise, as the Athenians would say. Bad move.

"Okay. What about the boys?" whispered another blonde.

"I'll be at CHB."

"No, I should be. You've been there longer."

"We should settle this. Like what a real man would do."

"You're on."

The guard looked over her shoulder to find an amusing sight. What a real man would do.. yeah right.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Mitch had scissors. Lexter had... wait for it... **rock**.

"Agh! Gods damn it!" Thunder rumbled, but they ignored it, as usual.

Soon after much bickering and complaining, they found themselves at a hill overlooking the valley where Camp Jupiter was, and at the foot of the hill was the Little Tiber, flowing powerfully as of the original Tiber, river of the empire. In the distance rose Mount Diablo, right where it should be.

The guard trudged down the hill with the others following. She waded into the stream not looking back, as if she expected them to follow, which of course they did, but not before hesitating. The camp's gate's opened, and some kids in armor poured out.

A girl in armor beneath a regal purple cloak stepped forward. She had dark eyes and long black hair, and her chest was decorated with medals. Alyssa recognized the girl. Reyna Milan.

Reyna looked at the female guard questioningly. "Judith. Who are these?"

The guard, Judith, smiled dryly. "The help Mars has promised," she explained shortly, taking in the looks of understanding. "If you'll excuse me praetor, I would like to go back to my duties now." As soon as Reyna nodded her consent, Judith saluted almost mockingly and forged back to continue guarding the gate with her partner.

Reyna turned back to them. She eyed each of them warily, her eyes darted from one person to another, seemingly agitated of seeing someone unrecognized. But once her eyes landed on Alyssa, they narrowed. "Annabeth Chase?"

Alyssa and her friends tensed. She glanced around the crowd behind the praetor uncertainly. This appeared in Reyna's grasp as quickly, and dismissed them. They dispersed reluctantly.

After they were all gone, Alyssa straightened up. "Alyssa. My cover name."

"Cover name..?" she mumbled confusedly. Before any of them could answer, Reyna shook her head and announced. "Follow me to the _principia_. We have much to talk about."

* * *

**Alright, really sorry for leaving you just like that.**

**One time my internet just got messed up so I'd have to wait for two to three days- check. I got lazy- check. I've been a whole new fan for this pop punk band I found, and they're awesome, so I spent my time on Youtube listening to their music- sooooo check.  
**

**Yeah, I know, stupid reasons. Anyway, this time I won't make the mistake of telling when I'd update. Besides, it's better to come unexpected, right? I'll catch you by surprise! (when I pass the part of lying lazily on my _podex_ and listening to MOAR songs)(and having more motivation)**

**Alright, see ya later! '_I've got a way with words and it's the cause of all my problems...'_**

**~Smartzyfan**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey!**

**Today, I'm back with a new chapter! So sorry for not updating earlier, 'cuz um... let's just say that I'm working on another story, but that's for another day, so...**

_**...keep your fingers crossed, hide them behind your back, I'll hold my breath... and let you read this dude...**_

* * *

Chapter 8

"Lord." He bowed his head respectfully.

"Yes. I believe you still have things to do. We will make this quick," the lord said, his voice deepening.

"Of course, Master."

"We will transfer half the troops to my wife's palace headquarters," he informed him. "The others shall stay to guard."

"But why, Master?" he asked, confused.

The lord had to sigh somewhat wearily. "They will come to rescue their gods. The knowledge of the army's size shall not be embedded into their small brains. It seems one of those whom you spared has failed to get out of the way, and was either stupid or brave to risk their life to help the puny demigods," he explained, making the soldier in front of him seethe. "Do you wish to capture? I give you my permission to do so."

"I shall let them be. I will be more than happy to show them what happens if they cross the line," he replied calmly. "Why do you tell me of this, my lord?"

"Should you need to go back. I understand that your current job is dreadfully boring. You are welcome to come, as long as you have done enough for the day."

"It is appreciated, my lord. Should I be the one to tell the troops?"

"No need. My brother has already done personally."

"Personally?" he asked, miffed. "Was I lucky to not see him, Master? Or absolutely unfortunate?"

"Very unfortunate, indeed," the lord mused in amusement. "He was like a child given a lollipop. Did a few favors for your fellow soldiers that day. Those were their best day, I've heard."

The soldier sighed wistfully. "Rotten luck."

The lord chuckled. "Now go, child," he encouraged. "Do not take too much dirt. They are still needed to torment the quested, down here."

"Will do." He shadow-traveled above.

* * *

_-*Camp Jupiter*-_

"So who sent you?" Reyna asked.

The four warriors were looking around the camp- new to their surroundings. Shimmering purple warriors stood outside of what looks like an armory, polishing ethereal swords. Ghosts hung around the barracks and the streets. The ghosts stared at them. They murmured to each other and Alyssa caught bits like, 'More g_raecus_.' She always caught the Greek word.

Turning her attention to the praetor, she told her, "Our um, Masters; or Commanders, I guess you could say."

Before Reyna could respond, Aria chimed in, "Yup," she confirmed. "We're here by the orders of Lord Aether."

"Ether..." the daughter of Bellona blinked. She regained her composure. "Who are you and your godly parents?"

"Um.." She gave them the evil eye, daring them to say their cover names. Lexter seemed unfazed, but turned to her with a bright smile. "Lee Fletcher, as Lexter uh.. Davis, at your service! Son of Apollo."

"Michael Yew as Mitch Clarkson. Son of Apollo."

"Abigail Thompson as Aria Jones. Daughter of Aether."

"Annabeth Chase as Alyssa Gray. Daughter of Athena."

"Wait, you said Aether?" Aria nodded to her question. Reyna had her forehead creased in confusion. "How...?"

"Later. Let's talk about it, right there... Shall we?" she implied, waving her hand towards a building: the Roman headquarters- a two-story wedge of white marble with a columned portico like an old-fashioned bank. Over the doorway hung a big purple banner with the gold letters SPQR embroidered inside a laurel wreath. _The Roman People and Senate_.

* * *

"Man, was she scary!"

"What did you think?" he retorted sarcastically.

"...Never mind," Lexter grumbled. "So where are you staying?"

"Well..." Alyssa said, trailing off while looking at the shops down the road, before responding. "We're staying at that mini version of Ancient Rome. What do they call it- New Rome."

"What, does Rome have, like, apartments or something?" Mitch asked jokingly.

"I guess so," she replied absentmindedly, craning her neck to get a view of the city. "Last time I'd gone here, I saw Roman families living in the valley. Like, _families_."

"Woah," Lexter remarked. "You mean, inside this camp? School, home; no monsters?"

"Yes. Where adult demigods," Aria answered, looking at the plaza in wonder. "The veterans from Camp Jupiter- can stay. Go to college and such. But they could also go to the mortal world, if they so would like to."

"And why would they not?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow at her. Aria looked at him weirdly. "Think, Fletcher. Why would they go back to the mortal world if they are children of the _gods_, not something else, hmm?"

Lexter held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry!" he exclaimed. "I just realized that it was a stupid question."

"There aren't any stupid questions, Lee, or should I say, Lex," Alyssa chided playfully. "Just stupid people."

"Hey!" They laughed. They continued their talk until they reached the end of the main road, the Via Principalis. They had reached the city limits. Children played tag among the Roman statues. They continued forward but was halted by a voice.

"Halt! I will _not _have weapons inside the Pomerian Line," it said. The voice came from an angry marble statue. Cinders popped around its curly hair. From the waist down, it was nothing but a square marble pedestal. From the waist up, it was a muscular human figure in a carved toga.

"Surrender or leave!" he snapped. The four exchanged curious looks.

Alyssa stepped forward with her hands up, showing that she was wielding nothing. "Terminus, we can't actually leave-"

"Then surrender your weapons! Before I take it out from you myself," he ordered in a fussy teacher voice.

They took out their weapons and held it in front of them. "Here," the daughter of Athena collected all the bows, sword, and her dagger. "Um.. where-"

"To whom will she give it to?" Mitch cut it curiously. "You don't exactly have any hands."

The god of boundaries harrumphed indignantly. "Rude, are we? Then I shall have my assistant- Maya? Where are you, girl?"

A giggle came from behind one of the statues. Out came a little girl about seven. She was wearing a cute pink dress. Her radiant brown hair was braided and jumping down her shoulders.

"Here I am, Mr. Terminus!"

"Maya, could you take this fellas' weapons now? That's right." The little girl held up a tray and presented it to Alyssa. She shifted uncomfortably. It doesn't look like a wise idea to give pointy, deadly weapons to a seven year old girl. "You can pick it up on the way out."

Alyssa cautiously put the weapons on the tray.

"You know the rules, eh?" the god said testily. "Should not be a daughter of Minerva for nothing. Alright, fine, you may pass."

Just they were about to continue down the path, someone behind them shouted, "Hey! Wait a second!"

They turned to see a buff guy in Roman armor. His scabbard was empty, and he had some kind of cord around his neck. His helmet was off, but they recognized him as the other one guarding the tunnel. He studied them each with an wolfish grin.

"I'm Mario, son of Mars. Reyna had me show you around New Rome." He held out his hand, still with that grin. "Pleased to meet you, _Warriors of Aether_." He said the _Warriors of Aether_ part like how they once say _graecus_- like an insult. None of them noticed except for Aria.

They shook hands with him. Mitch opted to introduce himself, but the son of Mars stopped him by explaining that he already knew who they are, because the female praetor told him. They didn't know though, which name. Mario did not mention it or called them by name, and they did not want to ask- or none were in the mood to.

Mario showed them around like he'd been here for years, which he probably had. He showed them different shops and cafés down the winding cobblestone streets, big water fountains and terraced gardens near the Forum and townhouses, and gleaming white villas, temples and apartments, and a university for camp graduates or veterans and Roman demigod families.

No buildings were fatally destroyed from the attack the last time she had been here. It looked like it was never in a war.

To put it short, it was breathtaking.

* * *

The Romans sure know how to eat.

Invisible wind spirits blew on everyone's favorite food and drinks so fast, the mess hall looked like a delicious hurricane. Dinner seemed full of excitement tonight. Well, Mitch couldn't blame them; he'd heard people talk about them already. Laughter echoed off the walls. The legionnaires dined Roman style, sitting on couches around low tables. Campers were constantly getting up from couch to couch, spreading rumors and gossip.

About who, Mitch has already gotten a grip of that.

They were pretty much in topic everywhere, after the little fiasco that happened a few minutes ago. And that Roman assembly in front of their barracks.. the evening muster, as they shall call it, when they were announced to the whole legion. Usually he loved the attention, being a child of a Greek Apollo- a god who is used to showing off, but now, Mitch was not so sure.

Introducing Alyssa as a child of Athena was tough enough, but then when Jason, the other praetor, asked anyone who was willing to stand for them, no one did, had they not met before. He would if he could; the only thing hindering him was his praetorship. He couldn't stand up for any of them, since he was not a part of any of the cohorts, and will never be- unless he stood down on his position as praetor.

But since they were the help- the _Warriors of Aether_- people had expected for them to be well trained; the praetors agree so. Because of that, the ones staying were asked which cohort they would stay in. The campers had waited for them to say First, as that was the best one, but the two appeared to have other motives.

"We, as in Mitch and I, will want to be accepted in the Fifth Cohort," Alyssa had announced. The other cohorts had broken out into agitated whispers, as he remembered. Mitch had thought that perhaps it wasn't the right cohort back then, considering he hadn't known of any of it before. But one sure thing Mitch knew about Alyssa: Athena always has a plan. He was actually getting sick of the saying.

There they go, explaining their reasons- erm; truly, it was only Alyssa who explained. He was just standing there, mentally cheering her on, hoping for her reasons to be, um, reasonable. It worked. The praetors even looked impressed. The remaining four cohorts either stared at the daughter of Athena in disbelief, or the Fifth Cohort in half mirth and half envy. The cohort in question, on the other hand, looked miffed.

Mitch hadn't known whether to offer a sardonic statement or laugh. The Romans, for him, do not strike as people with sense of humor. Not likely.

So here they were now, gloomily sitting on the couches at the back of the dining hall, next to the kitchen. He could not help but bounce on his seat in excitement. The war games were soon tonight. He'd be gaining this cohort some honor, just like... what Percy did.

Mitch glanced at the praetor's table. There was his brother Lexter, sitting with the praetors with his partner Aria at his side. The senior officers were talking lively amongst each other, wind spirits refilling their plates. Lexter caught his eye and winked, before turning back to actively chewing on his food. A whole afternoon with no food seemed to be taking its toll, as he looked down on his barbecue and scarfed it down.

* * *

The war games had been harder than she had imagined.

Sure, like what they say when you're watching action movies on TV. _It looks easy, but noooo. It takes a hell lot of practice before you master that jump you call pathetic. Try it; send me a message from the hospital bed._

The Fifth Cohort still had its eagle, but it completely lost its glory when the immortal centurions found their former praetor on the enemies' side. The traitor had managed to bring the cohort up a little, before he left them in the dust and back to square one. They knew the reason, though. So they had heavy hearts for their former leader- not blazing anger all the way.

The cohort was still going strong, one of the best but not the best of the best. They had gone up the wall- with two of the warriors on their side. They had won over the others with their help. Alyssa had received her first Mural Crown. Yipe.

And then a quest. Ooh, a quest was already issued. Alyssa had decided that Hermes had not been captured after all, such that Mercury had startled everyone with a flash after the declaration of their triumph in the war games in his full godly height. Thinking about it, she wondered how Mars had informed the Romans of their arrival when he was most likely chained. From what she recalled, her ex-boyfriend wasn't exactly fond of the god of war.

Anyway, a quest- a very dangerous quest was given to them. There was no time limit, thank the gods- it just has to be done as soon as possible. Mercury chose two of the members himself: one of the two warriors, and one of the two praetors. The messenger god declared the chosen warrior as the quest leader. After that, he went poof.

Just like that.

Suffice to say, her friends had pushed her to be in the quest, as her brains were needed in this. Jason stepped up to be the other quest member, as because he had more abilities to help them, and was much stronger; he had lightning and air at his disposal. As for the last one, Alyssa had chosen Hazel Levesque.

She was specialized in geokinesis unlike her brother Nico who was one for necromancy and umbrakinesis. She could navigate tunnels. Alyssa didn't know if it works in Tartarus but; it was a tunnel, in a way.

_Great. Another quest. Just what I needed._

She'd thought that she could actually stay and chill at this camp- at least for a while. Help and defend the camp from monsters. Boost the legion's morale. Just a bit. Rebuild and train. Fight the war. Win. Live in peace. But it was all too good to be true.

* * *

"I'm worried about Annabeth."

The son of Apollo stared at her. "Me too. I've heard that she'd been down there before." He glanced at the ground as if it might swallow him alive. "She survived. She'll do it again. She'll finish the quest." He swallowed. "Hopefully."

"That seriously made me feel better," she remarked bitterly.

"Hey, cheer up," he chided. "We'll do our own thing; get to camp and all that. Let's just hope for a quest so we could help her. We won't die."

"Of course not. We're immortal, Mr. Sunshine."

"Yeah. That's what I said, right? We won't."

Aria rolled her eyes but smiled.

* * *

**Yay! That's it, for this chapter.**

**Next chapter would be their arrival at camp half blood and.. the quest. What would happen? Just wait and see, :)**

_**To Epithet2: WE ARE THE IN CROWD RULES! WOOOOOH. TAY ARE SO AWESOME. (get it? haha)**_**  
**

**Thanks to the other reviewers! (ANAWESOMEGUY and BEST B) Luv da readers! ~Smartzyfan**


	9. Chapter 9

**DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE READ  
**

**Hey. I hope you won't, cause seriously, I was losing motivation to write. Don't blame me! Not many of you review and those are the only boosters I can get- if you don't count the favs and follows. But I get most from the Assassin of the Dark, and I don't need it there. SO sorry, I was really enjoying reading other fanfics and right now they are the only ones pushing me. And when they push, it only gives me little- so it riling me up little.**

**Another thing, I was encountering major writers block. When I see this thing's name earlier, I try very hard to concentrate- to write or think of something, I really do; it's just not my fault that the YouTube and Facebook tabs seem more inviting.**

**So anyway, I welcome myself back, thanks to Best B, thanks very much for knocking some sense into me/simply reminding me; the others can thank him/her later. I'll try to make this one longer; just to make up for ya.**

* * *

Chapter 9

Five figures sat cross legged on their bunks, eyes closed in concentration. Once they were joking about laptops and Skype calls, saying that it was easier, but horribly loud and annoying; plus it takes too much space. But doing the current one they do now, it was very efficient and sneaky. One would think they were just meditating.

"Ohohoho. We got a daughter of Athena with us. Sweet," one said sarcastically, running their fingers along the small pointy black spikes on their club. People say that long distance calls were not liked by many, given that the connection was somewhat slow; but they were liking it, all right. For one, you couldn't be smacked at the back of the head for unintentional idiocy.

Another one snorted. "You're one to talk," she retorted, "You don't have a pesky daughter of Aether who is got to be more annoying than the owl spawns. So nosy, always messing with other peoples' businesses."

"Maybe because you didn't blend in," the first one snapped. "Did you even change your alias?"

"Of course I did. Duh."

"So, all of yours' plan is going smoothly?" A new one inquired quickly, avoiding another verbal fight. Knowing those two, they have got to be the most violent and brutal people in the whole universe, heck, even their leader wasn't that bad.

"Yeah, it's only my pardner here- who just so happens to be above me now- got suspected at by those soldiers; other than that, we're good," another one replied cheekily, earning an eye roll from the second one, his companion. "She just couldn't keep the maiming for later."

"And here I thought girls have more self-control than us men," the first one muttered.

The last figure's eyes hardened into a glare at no one in particular. "The Romans here pretty much worship Mars and Bellona, so they wouldn't think of us so much- except when in battle, that is; now that is a different story."

"Besides, their punishments are harsh," the first one added, which made his partner grin. "Scared?"

He snorted. "Never."

"Anyway, you two from this camp probably already know this, but three pipsqueaks from Camp Jupiter are coming down the pit," the third informed them. Instantly, the two assassins in question scowled, while the other two grinned in excitement. Before any of them could say anything, the leader continued to tell them of the whole traitor thing who issued the quest to save their damned gods. The mood soured immediately.

"That sneaky little-"

"Always so pompous, deceitful, vile-"

"I'd so really want to kill him-"

The leader shushed them and reminded them of the plan. He told them of the change of headquarters due to the quest to free the gods from the Roman camp. He also told them of the place where the army transferred, should they need to go back in case of emergencies. Afterword, they talked for the whole night until midnight and went back to whatever they were supposed to be doing.

* * *

_-*The Next Day*-_

Omega walked through the quiet chatters of the camp, getting bows of respect as he did so. He acknowledged them with a nod and continued to walk towards his destination. The camp was not much, had the Master told him to not borrow too much dirt, but it was enough to be a small skirmish.

He made his way into a small clearing within the camp. He spread his wings: feathery black as nightmare hawk wings with a ten-foot wingspan. The feathers are made of super sharp metallic tips of Stygian Iron with Tartarus and Dark Essences- the same essences infused into his trusty bronze blade that made it the darkest black color- which makes the wings a deadly offense and an indestructible defense.

Omega did some experimental flaps before launching upwards at high speed, grinning, as he flew his way high up the sky where you could see him only as a tiny little blob, where he could see the landscape perfectly. He had set monster camps everywhere near both entrances of the Underworld, and also along the way to both, deeming it hard to reach the Land of the Dead.

He had watched how the three demi-squirts from Camp Jupiter play around the way of the monster camps, getting attacks left and right every hour and thirty minutes. From what he knows, since their quest had started the day before, they were already in the pit. Too bad he forgot to wish them good luck when they were still sane and coherent.

Omega will try with this other group though, hopefully he'd catch up to them on time. Why won't they just get out right now? Why go tomorrow? Why wait? Oh well, the sooner they venture out to be the savior of the gods- how ironic- the smaller the chance they would get attacked every five seconds. Oh yes, he was loving it; sneaky ambushy, hit and run..

_"Wait, am I the one thinking about this? I usually don't think about liking killing people..," _he thought, gaining his senses for a while. And for a while there, he felt an emotion that has been shunned since he joined the Dark Army; he felt scared. Scared that someone was rubbing off him, possessing him to be a bloodthirsty monster. Okay, he admits that he was; once.

He shook his head. He was getting soft. His master and father figure won't allow that. _He _himself won't allow that. He almost fell out of the sky when someone replied to his thought. It actually _replied_.

_Yes, you are the one thinking that, Perseus._

Omega flinched. He never liked that name since he was still serving Olympus; only then, he hated it. Calling himself a crazy bloodthirsty maniac, he replied mentally, _"No, I did not! Maybe _you _made me think that," _he protested.

_Are you sure, Perseus? Are you sure that you, alone, did not project those thoughts? Are you sure that you are not a bloodthirsty monster? _the voice in his head replied. It has an amused tone to it, annoying Omega immensely.

_"Yes, I am sure," _he agreed to it firmly. He flew aimlessly and the voice was silent. He soared up higher than the clouds, completely obscuring himself from the land mortals' view. He asked the voice, _"Who are you, anyway? Why are you in my head?"_

_You're telling me you don't know me, Perseus? And yet you called me here?_

Omega's face scrunched up in annoyance as he continued to watch over the Greek camp that was partially covered by the misty clouds. _"Stop calling me that," _he snapped, _"I am Omega! I do not go by such a pathetic name! Name yourself and your business inside my head before I kick you out of my barriers."_

_Fine fine, you don't have to be so irritable,_ it chided, just making him more agitated. _I am what you call, your 'conscience.'_

The answer made Omega stop in his tracks. Or, in this case, trail. His face was still scrunched up but this time in confusion. _"My conscience? I don't see how possible it is that I am talking to my own conscience."_

_Oh, it is possible. How do you think I am talking to you right now?_

Omega snorted as he continued to glide and observe the activities of the camp. _"Touché. Why are you here?"_

His 'conscience' seemed to be proud of itself in triumph of making his host harrumph. _I am here to tell you that it is true; you are a bloodthirsty monster._

_"No, I am not. I do not wish for the others' death. I only want revenge against the people who betrayed me," _he retorted internally.

_Retribution, _his conscience mused._ This Army has changed you. Not for the better._

Omega narrowed his eyes, which flashed dangerously. _"You are my conscience, are you not? I listened to you- you told me to go there. For retribution," _he replied sharply. _"And now you, who told me to come to the Army, are telling me that you do not like the changes upon me? Wait, let me scratch that, I did not even change!"_

_No. You changed, Omega- see, even you changed your name, _it said calmly, trying to make a point. Omega glared at the sword-fighting teacher angrily, waiting for his 'conscience' to respond. _You are not anymore loyal- you went against your allies; you are not anymore merciful- you let your godly family be damned until they fade-_

_"Shut up," _he groaned, stopping and floating in the air, glaring at the ground in frustration. The voice did not stop, however._  
_

_You are not anymore kindhearted- you kill even the innocent-_

_"Shut up!" _he yelled internally, trying to stop the voice. He clutched his head painfully, as if having a severe headache.

_And most of all, you are not anymore good- you are-_

"Shut up!" He could not take it anymore, too, too painful, so he yelled. Both mentally and physically. His voice echoed across the valley of Camp Half-Blood, across Long Island Sound and Half-Blood Hill. For a while, there was silence in his world. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood paused to look around confusedly before continuing on their activities.

The peace did not last. _You are evil. You are evil, Perseus Jackson._

"No." The phrase seemed to drain all his energy as he felt himself losing consciousness. The last thing he saw was the lake, approaching him quickly as he dove straight down at speeds, before all in his world turned black.

* * *

_-*Same Time, Same Day*-_

"All cabin counselors and warriors, please proceed to the Big House for a war council meeting."

A son of Athena opened his eyes and took one of his arms from under his head to nudge his boy companion. "Hey.. Lex!"

The said son of Apollo stirred and groaned before jolting upright and looking at his friend. "What?"

"Council meeting," he replied, gesturing to the Big House. Lexter scratched his head in frustration before jumping to his feet and jogging to the Big House. After making sure that he was out of earshot, he nudged his other companion.

"Hey. Hey Daria. Get your nose out of that book-" he paused, seeing his friend not paying attention to him, he hissed urgently through clenched teeth, "Dianne!"

The disguised assassin looked up, annoyed that her partner interrupted reading her precious article of ninjas. She raised an eyebrow.

"There's a council meeting," he glanced at the Big House, its door being entered by counselors constantly. In no time, they will start the meeting once it's filled up. He glanced at the cover of the book, before grinning mischievously. "Let's just hope that you learned something when reading that junk."

Dianne knit her eyebrows in confusion and looked at the cover. Her eyes widened before they narrowed into a glare directed at the boy. "No way Kaemon; you said you were the one-" she tried to protest but then Kaemon cut her off.

"Nu-u-uh," he shook his head, grinning at her. "You go on ahead, you're a ninja, yes you are!"

The 'ninja' glared at him as she pulled on some grass around them and put it between the pages, using it as a bookmark. She glanced at the Big House; observing the door was closed, she put down her book and stood up. She still had not taken a step when they heard a distant 'shut up' from above. Well, at least they thought it was from above.

The two assassins exchanged a look as Kaemon stood up from his position in the grass, before looking around for the source of the noise, as did the other campers, the whole atmosphere quiet. They shrugged it off as did everyone else and trudged to the Big House.

Once again, they froze as they heard a 'no' in their head, knowing full well who it came from. They exchanged a worried look. "Dianne, go," Kaemon whispered frantically. "I'll take care of him." His fellow assassin did not waste her time to argue and nodded, sprinting to a shadow beside the Big House before disappearing out of sight.

Kaemon turned just in time to see a solid humanoid figure clad in black falling straight down toward the lake, and it appears to him that it was unconscious. He cursed silently and looked around for any witnesses. Unfortunately, many campers have seen it as well and gathered around at the outskirts of the lake. He again cursed his luck and his leader for dragging him into this situation.

He thought of another solution to this problem, since with witnesses, blasting him off with his staff***** won't work- he can't afford to risk giving away his identity. For all he knows, someone may have seen the weapon from the last battle. Now that people have seen the falling black clad figure, there is only one thing that he could think of. A crazy idea, but it's better than just letting his leader get revealed and chained, and then they would have to 'rebel' against this.

He decided to play hero.

* * *

_-*Big House Rec-Room*-_

Everyone settled around the ping-pong table, the counselors occupying all the chairs leaving the Warriors of Light to stand around them. They began to talk actively while waiting for Chiron to come in and start the meeting.

Connor Stoll, a Hermes cabin counselor, was talking to Seth Firee, counselor of the Hecate cabin and Nico di Angelo of the Hades cabin about their latest prank, while Travis Stoll, the other Hermes counselor was flirting with Katie Gardner, though the Demeter cabin counselor was oblivious to this as she was talking to Will Solace, counselor of the Apollo cabin. Brian King from the Athena cabin was telling Leo Valdez of the Hephaestus cabin about his plans for an awesome battleship, while Drew Tanaka from Aphrodite was laughing at some joke from Butch Jefferson, counselor of the Iris cabin. Clarisse La Rue of the Ares cabin was arguing with Lexter and Aria about what was better: archery or sword-fighting. Pollux Green of Dionysus was in a conversation with the rest of the cabin counselors, save for Clovis Porter of the Hypnos cabin, who was snoring loudly.

They know nothing of the commotion outside, as well as their little ninja who just accidentally bumped her head on the roof.

A few minutes later, Chiron came in on his Zeus-knows-how-old wheelchair, effectively silencing everyone. He stopped at the head of the table and regarded everyone with a grim smile, and especially Clovis who was still sleeping. Catching his look, Seth shook the son of Hypnos awake before returning his attention to the Trainer of Heroes.

"Hello everyone," he began, "As you all know, half of the Olympians have been captured and damned in Tartarus."

The temperature seemed to drop and the lights dimmed in response to the mention of the ancient abyss. Murmurs of protest and uneasiness about the captured Olympians were exchanged among themselves, unable to ease their nerves at the thought. If the gods were captured and immobile in the war against deities stronger than them, how will the demigods alone, win this?

Chiron cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, and according to the safer rest, a quest must be issued to save them. Who shall lead the quest?"

While the others are saying various excuses to back out, Lexter and Aria exchanged looks, their eyes screaming déjà vu, and then nodded to each other. Aria stepped forward, drawing looks of curiosity and shock. The room was silenced. "I'll go."

Daria tilted her head sideways, smiling as she gazed at the scene before her with interest. Though this gesture didn't reach her eyes, as if the scene pleased and displeased her at the same time. This meeting was a good entertainment source in a long time since watching her leader fall out of the sky after experiencing a brain circuit error. She watched on closely for what happens next.

Chiron asked worriedly, "Are you sure, Aria?"

Aria smiled. "Of course," she replied. "A warrior here-" She jabbed a thumb on her chest, "Light."

Daria snorted. "Proud."

Chiron nodded and asked Connor, one of the immortal sons of Hermes, to call for the Oracle in her cave. A few seconds later, he came back with Sara, a fifteen year old blonde who followed Trisha, the Oracle who followed after Rachel Elizabeth Dare. The blonde Oracle looked at Aria expectantly.

The daughter of Aether took a deep breath. "What is my fate in this quest?"

Sara's eyes glowed serpent green and then she stood up straight, her eyes glaring at Aria. She spoke, her voice like three people at once:

_"You shall_ _descend down to the pit of nothingness_

_You shall lose a leader in the seemingly endless darkness_

_Half a hundred down, two across_

_A group bringing hope and grief, you shall cross_

_Memories, enemies and friends resurface_

_And succeed with a price, one that cannot be paid."_

After speaking, she collapsed into Connor's waiting arms. Chiron motioned for Connor to take her back to her cave, which he did obediently. He put one of her arms around his neck and led her back to the cave in the hill. Watching and hearing all of this, Daria's expression brightened.

Aria, on the other hand, was looking pale. The words of the Oracle played in her mind, echoing. The lines that worried her the most were the second and last line. She gulped while Daria grinned and shadow traveled back to the spot she disappeared on.

Looks like someones going to say bye bye.

* * *

**Hi. Hopefully that could make up for it. Sorry, I tried to make it longest as I could, it's only up to this. Read the author's note above, if you want to know why and why I haven't updated earlier. Let me say it again, this time: the update speed is decided by you.**

*** = you know Aang's staff, right? The one he uses to fly and airbend with? Kaemon's staff is kinda like that.**

**So yeah, please review! Your CCs or whatever will be appreciated(is the prophecy okay?)! Have a fun day/night ~Smartzyfan**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey! Here, I present to you the tenth chapter! (YEA DOUBLE DIGITS)**

**Thank you for reading that last chapter, even though you didn't make your presence noticed by reviews. I hope you do so now.. :D**

* * *

Chapter 10

Aria was screwed.

She had only been here for, what? A day? And then they go on a quest- where she would most likely die, or get lost, or something along the lines of that. And here she was before, overestimating the 'double meanings' of prophecies, when one clearly told her how she would die. _'You shall lose a leade_r' doesn't really have that many meanings.

Okay, but at least the prophecy says that they- or whoever comes out alive- would succeed in saving the gods, for a price. Another price. There is always a catch. That doesn't have anymore meanings... right? She hopes not.

The cabin counselors and the warriors were dead silent, busy comprehending the prophetic riddle. Chiron's horse half shifted about uncomfortably, the top half waiting patiently for anyone to speak up. He felt some kind of power display from above them, but he reckoned it as one of Zeus' or Poseidon's doing, temporarily forgetting about the two sons of Kronos being the reason a quest was going. After waiting for a couple more minutes, he decided to speak up.

"So Aria..," he called out to her quietly, as if afraid to disturb the silence enveloping them. The daughter of Aether looked up at him, mumbling a response uncomprehendingly. "Who do you choose to be your quest companions?"

She stared at him for a few moments, but before she could talk, the war cabin counselor stood up abruptly, her chair making a light scraping sound on the lumber floor. Clarisse narrowed her eyes at Aria menacingly, as if daring her to object; but there was also a hint of anxiousness in her brown eyes. "I'm going," she announced. "I've got a tab to settle with that traitorous punk Prissy."

"Clarisse, are you sure? We might not even see him there..."

"No," the daughter of the war god replied haughtily. "But besides, my dad's there. I could help."

Aria looked reluctant but she nodded her consent. She then turned her gaze to a certain person in the room, who she wanted to come with them. The son of Hephaestus noticed this and backed up slowly and uneasily, as if staying away would make her stop looking at him. Aria furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Leo," she called, and the fire user flinched. "I would like it if you joined the quest with us, because of your skills and all..."

Leo shook his head. "No way. You won't make me join you."

He probably expected her to argue, because when Aria let out a defeated sigh, he looked at her surprised and something... something other than that that no one could determine. Aria didn't seem to notice it as her gaze traveled to Brian, who looked at her with apprehension. She raised an eyebrow in a silent question. He appeared to think about it, but then someone stopped him, surprising him and Aria.

"Fine. I'll go."

Aria nodded, relief evident on her face. Chiron spoke, "Very well, you must go pack for the quest. You will leave tomorrow at first light."

The quest members nodded and Chiron dismissed the meeting. The counselors left almost immediately, leaving only Aria, Lexter, Clarisse, and Leo, the last member of the quest; and Chiron. The daughter of the war god nodded to Aria in acknowledgement and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at Lexter, before trudging out of the Big House to her cabin.

The three of them glanced at Leo, who was fiddling with his thumbs nervously. As though sensing their eyes off him, he looked up and forced a smile, before taking an interest once again on his feet. A calloused hand rested itself on his shoulder, squeezing it gently for comfort. He looked up to meet two concerned faces.

"I'm.. I'm fine," he stammered, "Just anxious."

"You know, just tell me your problem. You can't come if you're not willing," the daughter of Aether told him soothingly, which visible relaxed the fire user a bit.

Leo shook his head defiantly. "No; I'll come. I will do this for Percy." With that said, he shrugged off Chiron's hand and walked out of the ping-pong room, the low thumping of his footsteps reaching her trained ears as he walked on the lumber floor.

"You must go pack, my dear," Chiron's voice cut through the silence, addressing her. "And rest. You need all the energy you can muster once you leave. This quest is no easy feat." He lightly patted her back reassuringly and rolled his wheelchair out of the recreation room. Aria watched him go before turning to face her partner, who nodded to her, thinking the same thing that she must've been thinking.

"Let's go. I'll call for reinforcements."

* * *

Leo woke up to someone shaking him awake. He opened his heavy eyes to see one of his half-brothers staring down at him. He was about to complain when he remembered that he had a quest to do, so he sat up from his bed and thanked his half-brother, who just nodded and told him to hurry up.

He ruffled his own hair slightly and stood up for a quick shower. He dressed his regular clothes when he works in the forges, and slid his duffel bag on his shoulder. He made sure his tool belt was still intact, and with that, he basically crawled out of his cabin in anxiousness of what the ancient abyss may be like, what horrible monsters were shunned there, or if he will ever make it out alive- or better yet, someone else he cared about...

He shook the thoughts out of his head and trekked up Half-Blood Hill, beside Thalia's pine tree. Both of his quest mates were already there, with Lexter talking to Chiron and Argus, the hundred-eyed sentry, was standing patiently to the side. The creation of Hera saw him from an eye at the back of his right shoulder, which widened upon sight of him. He turned to a girl beside him- Aria, Leo reckoned- and made a gesture to his direction.

The daughter of Aether turned and waved, while Clarisse and the other warrior, Lexter who was talking with Chiron just nodded in greeting. He hustled up a bit, and reached the spot on top of the hill beside Clarisse.

"Took you long enough," she noted with contempt.

Leo shrugged nonchalantly. He looked at his teacher. "So Chiron, where's the nearest entrance to that pit of the damned?"

Although he didn't get it, Lexter and Clarisse stifled laughs. Chiron just looked at them in amusement before he said, "The ancient abyss is in Hades' realm, Leo. You would have to ask for the Lord of the Dead's permission before entering."

Leo looked at the two strangely. "Where's the nearest entrance to the Underworld then?"

Chiron caressed his beard in thought. "The place where most souls would go when they die is at the DOA Recording Studios, and that is in Los Angeles. However..."

"I know a closer entrance- albeit a smaller path, and harder to find. The Door of Orpheus," Aria informed them.

"Orpheus," the son of Hephaestus mused. "The dude with the harp?"

"A lyre," Lexter corrected. "The dude with the lyre, genius."

"Uh, yeah, sure," he scratched his head uncomfortably. "Well, let's go! I see light!"

Chiron shifted in his horse half. "Yes, you better go. I will leave the camp van for you to use. Keep it safe." Argus offered the keys to them. Leo reached for it, but Clarisse took it first. She smiled at him wryly, seeing his pouting face.

"We better let Miss Angel do the driving," she remarked with a gleam in her eyes as she tossed the car keys to Aria who caught it expertly and marched down the hill to the road where the camp van was parked, the other two following them. They drove off waving at the three disappearing figures on top of a hill when all of a sudden, she felt something bad- always the bad- is going to happen.

* * *

Leo had to keep himself busy with his tool belt. With a hyperactive, ADHD kid like him, he can't stay in one place without moving too much. He needed to do something to avoid getting crazy- if he wasn't already, that is.

He'd sometimes made small machines to annoy Clarisse to no end, and would end up with a spear at his throat, though nothing anymore than that happens. At times he would check on the things that may be useful once they go down to that pit, finding who-knows-what that only Percy and Annabeth have witnessed.

Oh, and count in Nico. Where is that creepy death kid, anyway?

Before he could finish that thought, he accidentally bumped his head on the back of the seat in front of him, with Aria suddenly stepping on the brakes and all. It happened to be a woman who didn't look that old to walk so slow- she looks like a teen, in fact. Leo didn't want to have this story so-o-o long, 'cause it would probably end up boring. That woman was a vampiric she-demon. So of course, the group went out of their way to kill it, not letting a lone monster thwart their quest.

But then it had sent a chain reaction. Somehow, when one of the nasties die, the other nasties would know, so no longer were they avoiding monster attacks as much as possible, because they began to get hunted. All they can do was either run or fight to the death- which would sound very heroic if they get to die _after _they finish their objectives, not _before_. Then they have no chance but to do the former, although they can't run forever, it won't hurt to try.

Upon driving away from the monsters in their van, he had also noticed that the first and farthest horde of monsters that they left behind made no move to follow them, simply to chase them away, as if they were guarding something. If it was the door of the dude with the 'lyre' that they were guarding, they would have been helpful. He was about to quip it to Aria but then he noticed that she seemed to know where she was going.

The Fates though, sadly, didn't think that these hordes hunting them down to be killed were enough. They came upon another horde, but this one really paid off. They managed to make the van explode, however way that they did that, Leo did not know. The good news about this was they squeezed out of the van safely before it went ka-boom, but the bad news is that it exploded when they weren't even halfway to their destination, according to Aria. And then Chiron told them to keep the van safe; what will the centaur do to them? Obviously it wasn't in top condition.

Is it just him, or did the monsters really increased their intelligence?

Leo decided not to dwell on that, half-nonchalant about it and half-fearing that theirs might surpass his. And he had no intention on being called stupider than a monster.

Then again, thinking about that made him want to deck the monster and slice its brain in half. But that meant taking out the whole party, and then the chances of splitting more brains into pieces won't be too inspiring anymore. So they just ran for a bit of a distance.

When they finally reached the Central blasted Park, Aria led them to a cluster of boulders just north of the Pond. Leo and Clarisse insisted on blasting it but Aria wouldn't let them. She told them that they need all the rest they could have, considering as they practically ran for half a mile without stopping. And again, luck didn't appear to be on their side.

Monsters emerged from the woods, from the dumbest hellhounds to the most intelligent she-demons. They were ambushed, surrounded. The odds were not so good. They couldn't hold out for too long and finish all the monsters; they were too many. So Aria told them what they should do which was basically holding them off for a while as she sang some tunes to split the rocks open. They can't help but agree that they were perfect for the job, so Leo started it off.

"Hey..," he greeted the monsters who were staring hungrily at them, waiting for them to move so one of them could at least satisfy his not-so-existent stomach. He pulled out a large bronze hammer. Clarisse looked at him weirdly and brandished her spear and shield. "You holding good?"

The question wasn't meant for them- or maybe the answer was not for him, because they growled and roared. Behind them, Aria was already singing some happy tunes- he couldn't recognize it- so they got some music. Leo wanted some sort of fighting background music but- oh well, here goes nothing.

"I don't think so." With that said, he lit his hammer on fire before any monster could react, and bashed the head of a nearby empousa. The stub where it rested was cauterized before the whole body disintegrated to a pile of golden dust.

Dirty.

And so they attacked. He used his hammer and swung, blocked, dodged, and slammed. They would not stand a chance. Clarisse was somewhere near him, impaling and shocking monsters with her spear, Lamer- _ahem_, Maimer. While Aria sung, they'd kept the monsters at bay. Whenever they killed, however, another refilled its ranks. It was as if the assaulter or whoever controlled or commanded these monsters knew they were coming. So it led him to one conclusion.

Spy at camp.

Truly, he could've expected that with the bunch of new campers popping up after the last battle in the Field of Mars- but hey, demigods could pop up everywhere, even at war! Almost all of them even appeared with no experienced demigod or satyr accompanying them, so accusing all of them may lead to arguments; arguments lead to fights; and fights may lead to something worse. So they just go careful exploiting all the plans and such, because unity is the most needed.

Anyway, after another stanza, the boulders trembled, cracking open to reveal a triangular crevice. Aria ran forward and rushed the two others down the stairs, while she made sure to have no demons of the Underworld follow them. Leo was already descending, his hammer put away, and fire dancing on his fingertips to light up the tunnel. Clarisse shouted for her. The daughter of Aether nodded and held out her hand, and suddenly, a bright flash temporarily blinded the monsters, letting Aria escape down the stairs as the boulders closed again, the sound of growling and hissing faint from the other side.

Leo led the way down the steep, slippery stairs to Hades. It went on forever. The tunnel was narrow so they were forced to go down in a single file. The air had a death feeling to it. Aria lagged behind, staring thoughtfully at the floor as they descended down the stairs. Clarisse broke the silence.

"Hey Valdez." Leo made a hum of acknowledgement. "Why'd you join the quest? At first you chickened out."

He shrugged. "I just thought it was the right thing to do. I still can't believe that Percy caused all this," he said in mild disbelief. "I mean, I'm grateful and all that my dad wasn't on his hit list, but still. He wasn't the Percy I know. He's..."

"Evil?" Clarisse suggested jokingly. "No way. He was just corrupted by whoever those bastard Masters are."

"Maybe. But seriously, what he did was overboard," he reasoned, "He even tortured his own dad!"

"And his apparent brother," she added unhelpfully.

"Do you, like, believe that Percy would do that? You've known him much longer than I do."

"Yeah, he wouldn't do that. He can't possibly," she agreed. "But either way, when I see him, I'm going to make sure he won't leave without a scar. Then I'll knock some sense into his puny brain."

Leo laughed. "Just for Percy."

They reached the bottom of the staircase. To their right were the black waters of the river Styx. To their left were the ramparts of Erebus, the great black walls of Hades' kingdom. But before them, was a huge line of transparent wisps waiting patiently to get in.

Aria took the lead. When they were close enough to the gates, the Cerberus growled at them with its three doggy heads, its three pairs of red eyes glaring at them. A shadow appeared perched on the sign above the Cerberus. Two more shadows appeared and perched on either side of the first one. The Furies.

Alecto sneered at them. "Hello honey."

Before any of them could reply, a familiar voice floated to them, no doubt addressing the old monster hags in front of them.

"Alecto! My father asks for the guests! Where are-"

The voice stopped abruptly when it stepped out of view and saw the three quest members. Out came Nico di Angelo, who was once again in his rumpled black clothes and aviator jacket. When he stepped out, he had an annoyed expression. But when he caught sight of them, almost immediately, his eyes portrayed recognition even for Aria. He smiled- a smile that sent shivers down their spines.

"So, you ask permission to Tartarus? Come," he invited them.

The quest members walked past Cerberus and the Furies, who just glared at them with hungry eyes, while the latter disappeared into shadows after doing so.

Nico led them to the palace gardens. On a balcony were a pair of thrones, planted purposefully for a view of the Fields of Asphodel. Sitting on the thrones were Nico's dad and stepmother: Hades and Persephone, their hands intertwined. Nico knelt before them, while the quest members just bowed. Hades made a motion to stand.

Hades cleared his throat. "Another quest for the gods, huh? This should be interesting."

"Father, I wish for you to grant them passage," Nico implied, while the quest were just standing and watched the scene.

"And what would it benefit me?" Hades countered. "We already have the perfect life, my son. You should be thankful. Your uncles cannot harm you anymore and your stepmother's mother cannot turn you into more wheat plants."

"Husband!" Persephone protested. "As much as I dread to say this, but I agree with your son. I want my mother saved!"

"Yes, grant us passage, please," Aria cut in, and three heads whirled around to face her. "We'll save Demeter, Lady Persephone. And we shall help Hazel if we find her underneath. Right, Leo?"

The fire user nodded vigorously. Persephone looked at her with gratefulness, while Nico glanced at her and nodded, an unreadable glint visible in his eyes. They both turned to Hades, who looked torn.

Finally, he nodded grudgingly. "Fine. I cannot afford for Hazel to get hurt, so I expect her unharmed. Then again, if you only forget that cereal woman..."

"Mother is to be saved. Am I clear, Hades?" Persephone demanded, glaring at her husband.

"Yes, yes, of course," sighing, he turned to the quest. "I, Hades, Lord of the Dead, grant these... half-bloods permission to enter the ancient abyss Tartarus."

After this declaration, Nico brightened and the quest bowed their heads in thanks. With that unreadable glint back, Nico offered to escort them to the pit and give some tips on the way. Leo and Clarisse agreed, while Aria looked on warily.

As they walked to the entrance of Tartarus, Nico talked to them. "Be careful. There are a lot of monsters and they seem to come from everywhere. When I was last there, I barely escaped and I was a son of Hades- the ones who should be the best to go to hell and back," he warned, before his expression turned curious, and another unreadable glint appeared in his eyes. "So Aria.. you're a Warrior of Light, right?"

Aria nodded warily. "Yeah. You've got a question?"

"Many, actually," he admitted. "Do you know what the enemies are like?"

"The Soldiers of the Dark? Yeah, I've met one before," she replied, watching him carefully for a reaction.

Alas, she only received an arched eyebrow. "What's he like?"

"Well, first of all, he doesn't fight back or struggle on his restraints, as if he knew that he deserved it or something. Then he had this glint in his eyes when he talks about dirty and evil stuff- I think they receive that upon joining the Army; I mean, look, _the_ humble Percy Jackson became this ruthless!"

Nico was nodding, pushing her to go on. She did, "Many times so, he used tricks, cunning, and deception to escape that we almost fell for. And you should understand that the Soldiers are not to be trifled with. They are insane fighters and experts, and I highly doubt that your friend could be released of that spell they had once you join the Army," she remarked sadly, looking at her quest mates in the end.

Nico suppressed a grin. Nice description. But then something caught his attention. "What spell?"

"Oh, spell," Aria mused distractedly, "Like what happened to Percy Jackson. The kindest hearts tainted almost permanently with dark corruption."

Nico shrugged. They stopped at the mouth of the pit. Leo peered down and gulped audibly. "Well, here you go. Last minute warning: there are many monsters there. You can also meet some titans, so be careful. Oh, and you might meet these 'Soldiers of the Dark' down there. And another thing," the quest turned their heads to him, who look genuinely indifferent. "Beware. There are no stairs, and no signs to help you on the crossroads."

The three looked at him confused. Leo opened his mouth, "Wha-"

All of a sudden, Nico smirked. "Good luck."

Before they could comprehend his words and sudden change of mood, they felt a rough force push them backwards; and found themselves free-falling and screaming for dear life, left by a horrible shuddering image of an evilly smirking son of death.

* * *

**Okay, first of all thank you to my loyal readers:**

**ACOOLGUY** - _You should definitely update your stories, bro, they were cool_**  
Best B (Guest) - **_thanks for continuously reading this story! hope you enjoyed this_ chapter!  
**DiatomicBromine **-_ I believe I already replied to your review? Thanks for reading last chapter! Hope you enjoyed this one  
_**Shijuuro Seika** - _to be honest, I forgot about them before you reviewed, but yeah, I guess this answers it*Thalia will join in a moment*_

**Thank you for reading, REVIEW, good day! ~Smartzyfan **


	11. Chapter 11

**Bottom. *smiling sheepishly***

* * *

Chapter 11

_Crap. Why now?_

He thought miserably as he used his superhuman speed to run towards the direction of the lake as fast as his legs could take him. His superior was now meters away from the surface. Nobody tried to save him, yet no one was attacking either. There was still hope.

Once he reached the border, he jumped, catching the falling man by the arms. He dragged him with him as he fell, and twisted slightly so he was on top, and his superior's back facing the ground. They landed roughly, the unconscious man skidding to a stop while he jumped off as soon as they landed and hurried to the man's side.

His superior had not too much injuries- only some small scratches in the back that he received from the fall. There were leaves and small twigs stuck in his hair, and his face was slightly dirty. His wings were retracted, thank the gods.

Light thumping of footsteps told him of incoming company. Kaemon quickly shadow traveled them away to some random place before they could reach them.

Still holding on to Omega, he emerged in an abandoned warehouse in Queens that happened to be one of the monster camps that he had spread. The monsters that were just chilling there immediately converged around them. Kaemon put them on orders to the infirmary for healing and rest while he'll go back to camp to calm the issues; then come back for answers once the little campers settled down.

He shadow traveled back to the forest where they landed, but this time a few ways away from where they originally landed. He ran back to the spot to see a tiny bunch of campers around the area looking around confused. When one of them caught sight of him, the camper told the others, and soon Kaemon was mobbed by questions.

"Kaemon! Where is he?" was the most common question he'd heard. This time he had to think fast, provided that they shouldn't see him hesitating. He cursed himself silently for being a blockhead and not thinking what to say before running back here. He just hoped they wouldn't get too suspicious.

"He disappeared."

This answer seemed not to satisfy them, and only added more questions into the block. He mentally face-palmed for not again thinking what he was about to say. Thankfully he thought of something.

"When we landed, he got up and ran, and I chased after him. I managed to corner him into a cliff and he..," he paused, picking the right word to say. He knit his eyebrows while thinking. "He jumped."

The campers murmured at this, unsure of what to do. A son of Athena stepped forward inquisitively. "What did he look like?"

Kaemon raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity. "Why do you want to know? I bet it isn't important, anyway."

The son of Athena frowned. "It's important. What if he was one of the enemies? We could track him down or know just so we'd be assured he's one."

Kaemon's face turned impassive. "I don't know," he told him emotionlessly. "His face was covered." Before any of them could utter another word, the conch horn sounded for dinner. The son of Bia quickly hustled out of the woods and straight to the dining pavilion and onto their table, where he found Dianne who had a small, gleeful smile- it was hardly noticeable.

She saw him and outright grinned at him. He waved and sat beside her. He waited as the centaur announced the quest and its members. They didn't say the prophecy, which left him curious. Once Chiron left them to dig in, he turned to his companion.

Dianne was stabbing her steak animatedly before devouring a part of it in her mouth. _The meat lover and her eating habits_, Kaemon thought shaking his head before speaking up.

"What's with you?" he asked. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and winked, before getting a pen and paper (he doesn't know where she got that) and scribbling something on it. She shoved it in his hands before going back to her food. Kaemon raised an eyebrow and looked down at the text.

He could read it easily, as the dyslexia everyone has will be reduced once you join the army- a part of the Masters' blessing. He also realized that the writing was in Latin, and written that way as to not have any other peers who could understand their threatening conversation in the pavilion.

Reading it, he then knew of the prophecy that was not mentioned earlier. She also had asked him of what had happened while she was at the Big House. Sighing, he wrote what had happened. She had a worried look upon reading it and looked towards Kaemon in a silent agreement.

He nodded and both had a malicious glint in their eyes.

* * *

_-*Tartarus*-_

"I didn't expect it to be this easy."

Jason noticed as he followed his quest mates through the tunnels and caverns of the dark pit. The only lights were, strangely enough, faint red light that came off from no other source than the walls. Alyssa told them that it wasn't like this when she was here.

But things change in five hundred years, right? Or maybe, just maybe, someone was making it easy for them. Still, he had a bad feeling that this quest would lead to someone's death. What were the lights for, anyway?

According to Alyssa, when she was here, the only light that they had was the light emanating from the son of Poseidon's bronze sword. When they had fallen in firsthand, it was so dark that even her hands were out of sight in front of her face.

And also from what she had experienced, she told them that the abyss was like the labyrinth. The paths were everlasting, ever-changing. Extending. Nico told them the same thing back when he led them to a safe entrance. The thought really didn't make Jason feel any better when he already knew that he had to go through his Uncle's domain.

But with Hazel, he felt a little reassured. She was a daughter of Pluto, and an expert at tunnels, then maybe with her it would assure him that they would survive this quest. At first her father in his Greek form did not want to give permission, but Nico somehow convinced him that it would be alright, and told him he would send help. Hades had asked what kind of help, and Nico just answered, 'Another quest.' Jason never knew what that meant, but it gave them permission to enter the chaotic abyss.

But then again, he did not expect it to be this easy.

"Don't jinx it, Jason," Alyssa chided. She mumbled some incoherent words that the son of Jupiter didn't catch, but Hazel did.

"What was that, Annabeth?" she asked her. The girl snapped out of her reverie.

"Call me Alyssa," she told the daughter of Pluto who mumbled an apology, yet waited for the answer to her question. Alyssa sighed. "I was thinking-"

"You always do," Jason cut in smiling and faltered when Alyssa glared at him. "Sorry."

"As I was saying, shouldn't we have a prophecy when we have a quest?" she wondered aloud. Her companions thought about it. "I mean, this is issued by the gods, so wouldn't that need a prophecy?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that need my father's consent?" he asked as Hazel nodded in agreement.

She shrugged. "Apollo is still there, so prophecies should still be going…" Hazel turned to look at her quest mates behind her. "Let's not worry about that now," she advised, "Besides, in most quests demigods go into, they're walking blind. I did too."

They left it at that. The occasional monsters would still show up on them, but nothing they can't handle. They still received some minor injuries, but once again, nothing they and a little ambrosia can't handle. Although, they were trying to minimize the use of their godly food, as they were sure that they would need it much further especially when they rescue the gods.

They've been walking for what has been like forever when they heard a voice. It was not what they wanted to hear, unfortunately.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" mused an amused voice.

This was like one of those cliché mortal action movies, where the hero would get ambushed by some strong goon of the villain to at least make them weak before they went to save someone. That was an obvious reference- they were near.

The voice gave them a booming laugh, which sent shivers along their backs. But they refused to show their fear. They took out their weapons and assumed a defensive stance, watching out for anything warily. A sweat bead made its way down Alyssa's face.

The voice stopped laughing to ask, "Scared, are we?" before chuckling at them, as if it was cute for them to be scared.

Alyssa cleared her throat. "Who are you?!"

It sighed. "Fine. I'm too rude." A figure stepped out of the shadows and made itself visible to the quest. It was a tall man, towering about seven feet. He was well-built- literally. He had a muscular physique, but he was made out of rocks that had cracks and dark magma between them. His eyes were a hot, glowing red, which gazed at them with amusement. His mouth somewhat resembled a volcano's mouth, and opened to say, "Come out here. They look good for statues."

Alyssa stiffened at this. Was he calling who she thought it was? Oh no, this would be a tough battle. But instead of the dreaded gorgon, she saw a woman unrecognized by her step out and beside the lava guy. She saw Jason stiffen at the corner of her eye.

The woman gave her a sense of familiarity, though she doesn't recognize her. She had unnaturally pale skin, lush black hair, and cold brown eyes. She was in a black silk dress, with a little silver that glittered on the outfit. Her equally pale, pinkish lips were curled up in a small amused but delicate smile.

She knew her. This was… Oh no. She wouldn't. He wouldn't _dare_!

Alyssa felt a surge of anger. How dare _he_ replace her with this cold-hearted goddess? And to think that he probably put her in here, in front of her just to spite her…

"What," she whispered, deadly calm. "Have you… done… with P-Percy?"

It still hurt for her to say his name, but she needs to know what had made him this evil, that even he sent his lover to deal with his ex-lover. But judging from her expression, she didn't seem to be bothered by this; she looked pleased, even.

"Oh, you mean Omega?" she replied with her own question, while the daughter of Athena winced at the name. It was the name that brought her nightmares. But Percy… even more nightmares.

Khione's smile widened when she saw her wince. Finally, a revenge on this nosy know-it-all for all she has done to her boyfriend will surely make her day complete. She knew that Percy only sent Perses, yet she couldn't help but join and watch. She can even help, but that was against his orders. Sure, she was her girlfriend and all, but he was still the commander.

"I've done nothing to him, daughter of Athena," she continued, sneering at her. "Such a loving boyfriend he is. Although I have to thank you for letting go of such a handsome and heroic guy. That means you are safe for now, Jason Grace." She directed the last part at the son of Jupiter, who relaxed a tad but was still in defensive mode.

"Good enough he had gotten away from you. He was very depressed and angry when he came to me," Khione continued sweetly as Alyssa's eyes widened. "He told me you were not good enough for him. And the fact that your mother was telling the opposite." She sniffed disdainfully.

Alyssa's quest mates just watched as she narrowed her eyes at the goddess of snow. They haven't moved an inch, but they were still on alert. Khione continued, "I comforted him. He told me he hated you. I assured him that. We became friends ever since, and now, look." The goddess smiled smugly.

The daughter of Athena was shaking in anger. Blinded by her own emotions, she charged the goddess with her dagger lifted. Her friends followed suit, brandishing their weapons, determined to protect the daughter of Athena. They froze when a black blade intercepted her dagger.

Their eyes followed the length of the blade, going from the light-sucking black molten rock to a hilt which was infused with a dark, silvery substance that made it glitter red inside the dimly lit cavern. It was held by a rocky hand who had flowing lava in his veins. Khione just smiled wryly.

"Thank you, Perses." The titan just grunted. "I shall take my leave now. A shame that I cannot bring harm to you. Although our time today tormenting you was good enough. Farewell for now, Annabeth Chase."

She disappeared in a dark chilly mist. Perses smiled wickedly. "Now that my restrictions are out, I may squash you now all I want."

* * *

**Okay, sorry for just walking out on you like that, but I've had school. School is back. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?**

**It's crazy. First week and I already got work. I guess being a sophomore really does that to you. (i'm from the PHP) Anyway, yeah, so school has been out on me and I really shouldn't be doing this. I have some homework to do (AND I JUST LOVE MY MATH TEACHER CAUSE SHE DIDN'T GIVE US ONE! ONLY _OUR _CLASS! WE'RE HER FAVORITES) and I should be doing that, but I love you guys. I admit, I already have the chapter planned out and I only wrote all this today, but I've currently committed myself to my studies unlike last time (I just hate that year, honestly) so perhaps I'll write when I have time. I probably won't be updating on weekdays but who knows?**

**Oh, and before I forget, watch out for another story to come out; I'm working on a story with MY FAVORITE PAIRING! Kudos to who guesses it. Hint: has some chaos ;) Review! And shout-out to Best B for being a faithful reader! I love you all!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi! I'm back. It's so unbelievable, don't you think? Anyway, better put the rest of my message down there. Don't wanna waste your time :)**

**EDIT: Alright, so I kinda forgot that Zeus was away, (sorry for that) so I edited the reinforcements part. It won't do much difference, but I did it just to settle future questions and clear it up.**

* * *

Chapter 12

This was the only time that he wished for his best friend's power over flight.

Okay, this was one of the times.

But, wait. If he was falling right now, possibly down a hundred feet, yards, whatever; how will they be able to survive? Falling that far down to water is deadly enough, so how about a hard, rocky and jagged ground to fall onto, probably studded with a few deadly pointed stalagmites?

He shuddered at the thought.

Leo needed to think fast. He surely knows that Clarisse won't be able to soften her fall in any way, provided that the worthless war god doesn't have any powers. And if he had heard correctly, Percy was said to have defeated Ares at twelve. Annabeth said that she was there; she'd seen it, so he had no doubts.

Although, he doesn't know how Abby is going to save herself. Does Aether have power over air? He wasn't sure. The mythology classes don't exactly include primordial gods.

Then he had an idea. He's still not certain whether it was going to end up good for him and them, like Super Leo to the rescue. He had learned it from a cartoon (yeah, 517 and still on cartoons) which was gods damned awesome. Hopefully the trick'll work before they become Team Leo Bits.

He turned to the direction of his screaming companions, such because it was already too deep and dark to see. He lit his hands and feet on fire, and charged towards them. Yeah, he was now a freaking spaceship. Or pitship. Oh darn, that sounded wrong.

He slammed into a burly shape, and identified it as Clarisse. The fire seemed too far away from him to provide him light. He had needed them outstretched backwards. He boosted his fire and charged again, this time holding on to the daughter of the war god. There was suddenly a bright flash in front of him and he was temporary blinded.

Abby screamed and tried to summon some light, but the surface was too far. She could hear Clarisse screaming as well, but not Leo. What in Hades happened to that crazy guy? She then heard her peer stop screaming. Oh no, what happened to her?

She then felt a presence charging towards her. She thought of it as a monster. She mustered up her powers and energy and transferred them to the left hand, outstretched it, and released. There was a bright flash.

* * *

"What the Hades were you thinking?!"

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know!"

"Now look, the guy landed on his head apparently because of you."

"I didn't know, really! I swear! What was he doing, anyway?"

"Saving you, smartass."

"Argh!"

Before Clarisse could make a retort, a muffled groan drew their attention to the now conscious boy lying down on the cave floor. Abby helped him up while Clarisse was warily looking around for enemies.

"Ugh," Leo groaned out, "What happened?"

Abby opened her mouth to speak but Clarisse beat her to it. "Basically, we were falling and you were trying to save Aria here, who so wisely chose to blind you instead."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine," he waved his hand dismissively, before standing up, taking in his surroundings. "How are we alive?"

"I guess it's some kind of magic," Abby guessed, in which Clarisse rolled her eyes at the obvious statement. "So no one gets killed in the fall. So no one escapes unless you go out the hard way."

"The hard way," Leo repeated, and his eyes widened. "The Doors of Death?"

Abby rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's too dangerous, letting out all the monsters and all. And besides, the easier way is to free the gods first, then they'll flash us out of here." Leo face-palmed at that. "We aren't going anywhere for a while."

Clarisse drew her spear. "What did dead boy say again?" she asked her quest companions. "'There are no stairs, and...' What?"

"'And no signs to help you on the crossroads,'" the daughter of Aether continued for her. "I still don't know what that means. But I think Nico is-" she stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened. She summoned her bow and quiver on her back. She took the bow, while Leo yet again pulled out a hammer. He didn't blaze it up, because that needs too much energy, and there was enough light to see anyway.

Abby turned quickly to her companions. "Run."

* * *

A bush rustled just after the three people who bid good luck to the teenagers left the scene. A cloaked figure slowly rose from it, its eyes discoloring from a glowing blue to a dull grey. The hood above its head hid its face in the shadows. It checked if the coast was clear, then turned back to its companion, who was also in a black cloak like itself. It approached her and disappeared in a blanket of shadows.

They reappeared in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. Monsters turned to them surprised but bowed their heads respectfully. They nodded in acknowledgement and headed straight to a closed door which was previously a storage room. Sixteen cots were lied in an orderly row with eight on either side of the room, one currently occupied. They hurried to the lone cot.

Omega had woken up with a throbbing head. He groaned and sat up, clutching his head in one hand while balancing himself with the other. It was pointless, however, when a blur of black tackled him back to lying down. His head hit a rather firm surface, and he groaned in pain. Dianne squeaked in surprise and jumped off him.

Omega once again opened his eyes, and he saw two people towering over him. One had a worried expression, and the other had a small smile showing relief. He sat again with the help of the daughter of Artemis. She asked if he was okay, and he replied that he indeed was, better than before he went unconscious.

"What happened?" he asked eventually.

Kaemon spoke up for the first time they rushed in the infirmary. "We should be the one asking you that, actually." Seeing the raised eyebrow, he sighed and explained. "There was a council meeting among the counselors when we spotted you falling; in fact, it was before it even started."

"Falling?" he inquired confusedly. The two assassins nodded. "Why was I- oh..," he began but then he felt another throbbing pain in his head, followed by an ominous voice.

_You shall learn of the mistakes that will change your life… and when you figure it out, it will be too late._

He realized that his hand was holding on to his head, and his friends' hands put themselves on his shoulders to comfort him. He shook his head to lessen the painful feeling.

"What are you feeling?" Kaemon asked as he left his commander's side to grab a flask of nectar from the bedside table. He offered it to him who accepted graciously.

"My head hurts." He took a small sip and the headache disappeared completely. He gave it back to his soldier and laid back down. "And I'm tired. How's your mission?"

Dianne shrugged. "Oh, it's going great," she replied nonchalantly before her eyes zoomed into Omega's, and it almost scared the crap out of him. "Tell us what happened, mister, and don't you _dare_ stray from the subject."

And so he explained everything that he had heard when he was patrolling above the camp. He never left out a single thing, although he did try to take the subject off of him, which gave him two punches to the gut.

"So yeah, that's what I heard," he concluded as he looked at them expectantly for an input.

Kaemon had assumed a thinking pose, while Dianne was incredulous as ever. "And you believe that?" she asked in disbelief. "Come on Omega, I knew you were stronger than that! Act like it!"

"I know, but it was-"

"Your conscience, you, I don't care, don't believe those!" the daughter of Artemis exclaimed. "They're probably a trick from one of those gods you spared. I knew it, all Olympians are the same, wanting the power for themselves. Was it female? Was it Artemis?"

Omega was about to reply when Kaemon cut in. "Shush, Dianne," he chided. "Don't pressure him."

The daughter of Artemis huffed indignantly but obeyed. The son of Bia turned to his superior. "Firstly, do you believe it?"

"Well no-"

"You better not!" Dianne interrupted but was silenced by a glare from her temporary partner in crime. Omega continued, "No, of course not. I only realized this now, but I think it was tormenting me."

Kaemon nodded. "Can you place the voice?" he inquired carefully. "It might've been lying about being your conscience."

The commander shook his head no. Kaemon sighed and nodded. "Okay then, just don't believe any of that anymore. Don't let it get to you, either. It might be your downfall."

Omega nodded and gestured for them to give their reports. The two straightened obediently and spoke in a clear voice about what had happened recently.

* * *

_-*Meanwhile*-_

Lee was instructing the Athena and Apollo kids in archery when a giant gleaming warship floated into their view. In an instant, the bows were aimed in that way defensively. The warship was made of a silver metal and another that could be made out as Imperial Gold. A huge white flag was used as their sail, indicating a 'peace' sign.

He immediately dismissed the class and rushed to the beach, where they were found descending atop the waves. A long and wide plank that looked like iron was launched between the rails and the shores, making an effective bridge for the passengers of the massive ship to walk through.

First came out Jason, or Jace as he called him. No, not the Roman praetor Jason, if you know what I mean. For hopeless people out there, it's Jason, the Greek, the Argonaut. He walked off the plank and stepped in front of Lee, who had pushed himself through the gathered crowd. Several hundred more warriors unloaded from the warship, leaving most of the campers who liked to read the myths gaping.

There was Tony- no, _Theseus_. He stepped beside Jason. More ancient Greek heroes were recognized; Achilles (his heel was clean), Perseus (the original), Heracles (who had changed for the better), Orion (his archery skills evaporated a bit in exchange for water powers), Odysseus (who has hated horses ever since), Orpheus (who needed someone to watch his back every time), Diomedes (his ego inflated), and a few Greek heroines as well, like Atalanta (she runs as fast as a high speed horse), Andromeda (as beauteous as ever), Deianeira (forever wife of Heracles), Asteria (an Amazon who had hated her killer for life, which is to say, eternally); and many others.

As the warriors filled the beach, Jason gestured his companions for order before he faced Lee, and bowed respectfully. The other warriors followed his lead. A hand gripped his shoulder which righted him to the correct angle. Lee spoke to him, laughter twinkling in his eyes. "I didn't know you were dramatic, Jace."

The Argonaut grinned. In a minute, Lee was surrounded by most of the warriors, offering and receiving hugs and greetings. The campers stayed rooted to their places as they gaped at the olden heroes who looked very alive and well greeting their former Apollo counselor. Amidst all the noise and commotion, a bright, golden flash filled the place and suddenly they were in the amphitheater, a mini-council of the Olympians set up on stage with the rest of the gods resting on their thrones.

A variety of emotions could be seen from the powerful immortals: shock, confusion, fear, glee, surprise, joy, apprehension, indifference. Three guesses for the last two emotions.

The campers bowed quickly not wanting to be blasted, while the vast amounts of warriors remained standing and only nodded in respect and acknowledgement. Hades, for now acting as the leader, looked overjoyed and annoyed at the same time, happy to see that someone would be willing to help them in the war, but annoyed to see the resurrected heroes that might add extra paperwork.

The temporary king of the gods cleared his throat. He narrowed his eyes at Lee, who stared back defiantly. He looked not only unfazed by this, but amused as well, as he gestured to the sea of warriors before him. "Explain this."

* * *

_-*Tartarus*-_

The titan deflected the dagger and slashed at her stomach. She leapt back to avoid the strike as the son of Jupiter jabbed his sword at the titan experimentally, who blocked and ducked as a spatha sliced air over his head.

Annabeth took the plunge and sent a swift knee to his face. Perses stumbled back upon standing up, before raising his sword to deflect a stab of a gladius. He got annoyed and assumed a series of strikes, slashes and stabs, forcing his enemies into defensive trying to keep up with his speed.

Annabeth tried to do a different approach. She waited for the right time and left a point purposefully undefended. Unfortunately, the titan read her like an open book and slammed his sword hilt to her untended side. She crumpled to the ground, some of her ribs broken.

Hazel had become frustrated, not landing a single blow on Perses so was Jason. She circled the fighting duo and summoned an emerald, hurling it at the titan's backside. It hit its mark and punched a hole through the titan's body, however it had no harm on him whatsoever; it just made him irritated. She huffed and raised her spatha, and charged again.

Jason dodged the emerald thrown by Hazel when it hit straight through Perses' body. The black blade swung aiming at his head, so he panicked and his blade met his. In his panic, he accidentally released a wave of electricity, and it conducted into his opponent's blade, to his rocky hand. Perses shuddered, but didn't show anymore signs of pain.

Annabeth groaned and struggled on her feet, gripping her dagger so tight her knuckles turned white. She saw her friends still fighting the titan so with little difficulty, she charged again into battle, her mind overloading and searching for a plan.

The son of Jupiter may not have noticed it, but Hazel sure did. The hole in his body looked much more defined and fragile after the electric wave. Strange enough, it wasn't regenerating, like she was expecting.

She stepped back to get a breather. Jason already had small sword cuts in his legs and torso areas. She noticed Annabeth attack from behind him, and her knife slashes did about nothing when the lava overcame the wound and solidified.

Why wasn't her emerald hole doing the same thing?

Her muses overtook her senses, and she didn't realize it until she was on her back on the jagged ground, a black sword pointed to her face. Her friends were on the ground, unable to stand. The hole in Perses' body became noticeably larger. Despite herself, she paled and shut her eyes, anticipating the worst.

But that changed when she felt a searing heat sail way above her head, complete with a loud, whistling sound that became an ear-shattering BOOM when it collided. She heard the low crackle of electricity from a few feet in front of her. Was that Jason?

Alas, when she opened her eyes, she only settled to gasp at what she saw.

* * *

**OOH! CLiFFHANGER! But.. oops. Looks like I overdid myself. ...Never mind, you deserve it!**

**So as you probably noticed, I took a reviewers request (or implication, however you want to put it) to put not too much name changing, so just pretend that ALL the names are the original names. Because here, I fixed it. (HAHA)**

**To my fellow TOTAL WATIC FAN out there, thanks for remembering my story once again! (I'll forget that you said you forgot this story..) and if you haven't already, I suggest you check ATL as well! You know, just search those initials in HR in YouTube and you'll see. Their style of recording is almost the same, and their songs are awesome as well! (But not as awesome as WATIC's, HAHA)**

**To my VERY FAITHFUL reader, you know who you are. To sign up, you just click the sign up button at the top of the page (the blue part) beside login, and you sign up! (I forgot what you need to do there, but you need to have an account where you receive your e-mail) You could also make your own stories!  
**

**OVERALL, (let me end this suuuper long AN) thank you for your feedback and support. I'll try to update as fast as I can, but with my other story to update it wouldn't be too soon, plus school going on. I'm going to alternate updating between my stories, as so not to outrage the fans of this and that. Soooo, see you soon, later! REVIEW ~Smartzyfan  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**HEY THERE FOLKS! I'M BAAAAACK!**

* * *

Chapter 13

_Crap, crap, crap._

And here she thought that the place would might as well be empty. Seeing all the other monsters that had pursued them all the way here plus all the other monsters throughout the entire continent, you'd think that their dwelling place would be empty.

_But_, it _is_ called a _dwelling place_, which basically means there were always monsters around the place where they die, reform, and live; the cycle goes continuously. They dwell here. Duh.

And with that session over, back to the problem at hand. Before she could finish her assumption, monsters suddenly appeared behind Clarisse. She'd told them to run, and that's what leads to what they're doing now. Every now and then, she or Leo would shoot an arrow or a fireball when a monster got too close. Clarisse would help occasionally by extending her spear backward, leaving whatever was behind her to reform at the far side from them.

Eventually, they were panting, just as they came upon a dead end. They spun around defensively, ready and quick to counter an attack. Their eyes darted from one creature to another, watchful of any abrupt sign of offense. The said creatures looked over them with strong, salivating jaws, and without a moment's hesitation, they pounced.

Abby can still recall the last time she fought for her life- a time that she wasn't sure whether she was to survive or not. Most missions given to her were often easy as nuts, just doing this and that. She'd done saboteur and assassin work before, and they were nothing compared to this.

Here, she was playing the role of a normal Warrior, where you follow the leader's- or Peacekeeper's- orders blindly. She doesn't know when she was to die. Or if she ever will. This time, fate controlled her. She never knew the outcome, whether they were to win this war or get tortured for all eternity.

The last missions she had handled, it always ended up with her going back to the camp victoriously. She had expected what would happen. It bored her.

But this time, she did not know what to expect. This was a whole new mission given to her; she was one of the chosen ones of the new peacekeeper. She now plays as a lowly warrior, not the wise leader. Their enemies were strong, cunning, and unpredictable. The strongest she was to fight, she reckoned. Perhaps in the whole world of dimensions, even.

Before she knew it, patches of golden dust were around her feet and her companions were looking around for more monsters. She breathed a sigh of relief and kept her bow out of sight. She turned to the two campers. "Come on. We can't stay here for long."

They nodded and they set off together, watching each other's backs. They walked in uneasy silence for a few minutes before Leo spoke up, "What were you saying, Aria, before those monsters chased us?"

Abby looked at him confused before her eyes widened as he spoke, and she replied, "You remember when Nico said something to us, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "Well, I think Nico was aware of what we're going to face. Do you have any idea how he knew that?"

Leo looked thoughtful, and then suddenly his eyebrows shot up and he slapped his forehead just as Clarisse glanced back at them with an expression of reminiscence. Abby stared at them skeptically, unsure whether to push for the answer or just find out for herself. Finally, she asked, "So you know..?"

They nodded slowly, apparently still adapting to the horrifying memory. "N-Nico… We kinda forgot about him..," Leo responded nervously, his eyes glued to the cave floor as he walked. The war god's daughter gained an angry expression, one that seemed to be her scariest. "That death kid was a traitor!"

Abby was taken aback by her outburst. But she does admit that she had noticed something off about the son of Hades as well. His eagerness to let them in Tartarus, the unreadable glint in his eyes, and what he knew and what he wanted to know- all cleared up the confusion of who he was. His evil smirk that was somehow forgotten in the fall, it explained a bad meaning of his words, _good luck_.

But why did he help them by giving them information, even if it was in the form of a riddle: the one gods used to help heroes? Why was he letting them save his enemies? Why did he let them _live_?

She shook her head. Hopefully she will know in due time. For now, she wasn't going to torture herself with these unanswerable questions. She thought back to the other quest, where her friend Annabeth was leading the two Romans, one of which was a half-sibling to Nico. Were they fine? Were they near the gods' prisons, A.K.A. the Soldiers' headquarters? Or were they near them?

Leo asked uncertainly, which broke her from her train of thought, "Then why did he help us?"

Clarisse scoffed. "That was probably some trick," she assumed. "I swear I'm going to strangle him the next time I see that puny goth kid."

They didn't speak much more after that. They constantly looked over their shoulders for monsters that might be chasing them, but strangely, none was seen ever since the last attack. They may have not noticed it, but they had walked through the dead end that made them fight for their lives. They were advancing fast. It was pretty good progress.

In those times which seemed like hours or days, Abby had thought about the questions that had recently entered her mind. Every question seemed to bring up another, until it was a whole chain of questions that had wrapped her mind tightly around its cold and hard unknowingness. Breaking one bond would break all the others with it, and when she tries to get that only one back, all the others come with and her frustration starts again.

Tempted to pull her hair out of its roots, she instead busied herself by sorting through her quiver. Her everyday Imperial Gold-tipped arrows always reappeared in her quiver, but the special arrows were limited. She had five arrows coated with Hydra poison, three Greek fire-explosive arrows, about a dozen flash arrows, and one sonic arrow. She sighed; she made a mental note to supply more sonic arrows once they were back on the surface.

Just after she finished that thought, the faint sounds of battle reached her trained ears. They took a few more steps as the noise became louder, and her two quest mates had become aware of it. They drew their weapons as Abby stayed unarmed but alert. They crept silently to the curve leading to the entrance of another tunnel and their eyes widened.

There they were, unmoving and unable to stand as a titan towered over them. The quest from Camp Half-Blood glanced at each other, and unspoken agreement went between them as they knew the titan had yet to notice them.

Abby plucked the sonic arrow out of her quiver while Leo took out his hammer, a smaller one this time, the same thought running in their heads. The daughter of the war god silently drew her spear, a little bolt of electricity slithering around the blade before it disappeared in space. And together, they attacked.

The archer fired her arrow just as the fire-user enforced a fireball into it with his hammer, making a mini-comet with increased speed and power. It whistled through the air and exploded with a BOOM inside the titan's brain (if ever it had one). The heroine finished him off by impaling her electric spear through his chest, where his heart was supposed to be.

The titan crumbled into tiny igneous rocks before dissolving into dust, probably to reform at the far side of the pit, or worse, in the headquarters. They decided to leave the subject untouched as they turned their heads to the sound of a gasp.

* * *

_Why?_

_No.. Don't leave me.._

_My best friend betrayed me.._

_You chose him... what about me?_

_I'm not entirely evi... but I still am._

_I should have listened to Luke.._

_How does it feel?_

_Have fun dying._

Annabeth opened her eyes to see a loose stalactite about to give in to gravity. She rolled to the right just in time as the rock impaled itself to where her head had been resting on. She rubbed her head and grunted as she sat up on the rough ground. She looked around, confused to find five quest mates instead of two.

"What- what happened? How are you here?" she inquired Abby, who smiled at her once she saw her awake.

"Oh, hi sleeping beauty number two. Number one is still sleeping," she greeted sarcastically and gestured over to a blond-haired demigod sleeping on a safe spot luckily without a stalactite loosely hanging over his head.

Abby gave her a small smile. "As for how we're here, well.."

She explained what their quest had been doing before they spotted theirs, and defeated the titan with the element of surprise. Her two companions also quipped in something they thought was important, and about what Nico had said and the prophecy.

"A group bringing hope and grief... You shall lose a leader..," she mumbled to herself and looked up at Abby with a dreadful expression. She tried to smile reassuringly but it came out as a grimace.

"Don't worry about it." Her face looked more worried than anything. "For now, let's focus on doing our quest. A group bringing hope you shall cross; that's gotta be you right?"*****

She didn't mention the grief part of the line.

* * *

_-*Camp Half-Blood*-_

"You see, Lord Hades, every hero who is worthy or worth taking that had died or has chosen to die was brought to a more advanced training camp. It is in another dimension so you don't know about it."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "The dead heroes..?"

"Remain dead, sir. In this dimension, at least."

The lord of the dead nodded. "So you mean to say that your whole being was somehow duplicated from this world just before your soul left your body to be destroyed, to travel to the Underworld, is that it?"

Theseus nodded politely. "To elaborate it."

Hades scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Are there also reinforcements at Camp Jupiter?"

Jason confirmed, grinning, "Of course, Lord Hades! I even sent another Argo there- Argo IV, I believe, since I'm aware that a clever son of Hephaestus had done a great prototype of my original."

Lee nudged the Argonaut with his shoulder. "Stop it with the Argo/s, dammit."

The temporary king of the gods breathed a sigh. He looked around at his fellow gods. All of them were looking to him for his decision. _So this is how it feels like to be a king_, he thought wistfully. _And how it feels to be noticed and looked up to._

He never wanted kingship, all he wanted was acceptance from his family. They still didn't, even when that Jackson boy had given him a throne on Olympus. His family was forced to go along with it, but it did nothing to make him feel accepted.

What if this decision will be rejected by the other gods? Will their respect for him waver? Would they like the outcome? Jackson had taken away his brothers and sister/stepmother. Since then, his life with his son and wife had been perfect. He had grudgingly allowed the half-bloods to Tartarus to save his so-called family on his son's request.

Sure, he knows that his son was a traitor of some sort, what with siding with the dark deities and whatnot, but he only offered to avenge his cousin for all the wrongs that his family had done to him. His name was neither in his nephew's or his son's- of course- hit list, so he had nothing to worry about, as long as he stays out of their war.

He knows some of his nephew's plans, and that becomes his son's plans as well. Nico had not made him swear on the Styx because he knew that the outcome would be much worse if he divulged any of it. Besides, he had no intention to. If only he could outright decline these Warriors' offer for help, he'd do it right now.

He wasn't called a _traitor_ for nothing.

Hades can feel a headache coming. He sighed and looked over the sea of warriors once again, all looking up at him expectantly. "Very well; do what you must to protect this camp. I trust you to train these campers to increase their skill and chance of victory in this war."

Achilles' mouth stretched into a wide grin. "You can count on us, Lord Hades!"

The lord of the dead nodded as Lee turned back to talk to them. He shouted, "Move out, Warriors!"

"Aye!" was their thunderous reply. In less than a minute, the amphitheater was cleared out of gleaming gold and silver warriors.

* * *

The clinking of metal against cobble sounded in the courtyard. The silver studded combat boots glittered dangerously in the soft, silver moonlight. Creatures bowed as he passed, to which he only nodded as a sign of acknowledgement, before treading urgently through the palace yard leading up to the steps of the Darkness throne room.

He tapped his knuckles lightly two times on the massive ancient doors. The designs were intricate swirls and curves delicately carved into the dark wood, outlined by shaped strips of a harder, gold-ish element. It was flanked by two Soldier guards who saluted when he came into their view, to which he saluted back.

"Come in."

He dramatically barged in, walking in wide, confident strides.

The throne room has a dark, royal theme, either gold or silver outlining the walls. It was about the size of the Olympus throne room. Marble columns stood with braziers of the brightest and hottest Greek fire bored into them, the light reaching to the walls and reflecting an ethereal glow. In the center of the throne room was a big silver clock, and directly above it, the ceiling was cut in an octagon opening up to a beautiful view of the night sky with the moon shining down its comforting silvery rays.

He walked up to the center and knelt with his head bowed low. Before long, slender arms wrapped itself around him. One snaked to his chin, gripping it tenderly, and willed it up. His eyes met a blood red pair. He felt the corners of his mouth quirk upward.

She pulled him into a hug which he graciously returned, before she stood up and led him by the hand to the thrones. She snapped her fingers and a new throne appeared on her right side- a midnight blue throne decorated in swirls with blurry colors, as though it was a snowy breeze. Sapphires and silvers littered the backrest, and his seat was a comfy black cushion.

He sat in the throne after she took hers. He marveled the designs and the throne itself modestly before clearing his throat and turned to the woman next to him.

"What have you sent me for, Lady Nyx?"

The goddess of night was in a smooth, black silk dress. The sides were cut from the thighs giving it a more elegant look. It was a simple choice of clothing; she had round silver earrings dangling, and her black hair flowed to her lower back neatly. She adorned a gentle yet devilish smile.

"What have I told you what to call me when we are alone, Omega?"

The commander sighed, wearing a ghost of a smile. "Aunt Nyx."

She nodded, pleased with his answer. "How have you been doing? I haven't exactly checked on you personally for decades."

"I've been good, thank you," he answered politely. "Just a few mountains, here and there, but I'm still good."

She smiled. "Khione? The Soldiers?"

"They have been enjoying the past few weeks. As for Khione, all is well between us. She had given me a beautiful snowflake amulet, and that just made me all the happier."

He showed her the accessory, in which she smiled at as she admired it. Then she remembered something, "Oh, that reminds me," she conjured up a velvet black box. It was thin and lengthy, as though only a piece of stick could fit in it. "This is for a late happy birthday."

Omega gave her a handsome grin in thanks. He took the box from her and untied the fancy gold ribbon which was acting as a seal. Inside was a classy bronze pen, and he got the feeling that this had a partner.

True enough, when he uncapped it, it elongated into a same shade of midnight blue identical to his throne. Black and red swirls run along the blade, and the sword itself had an evil feeling to it, sucking light all around it. He grinned excitedly as he took out his original pen in one fluid motion, uncapping it as he did so. He now had identical chaotic twin blades.

He gave his Aunt another grin. "Thank you, Aunt Nyx. This is... awesome."

Nyx suppressed a frown. Why did he go back into using that immature word? Could it be..? She blinked and mentally shook her head. Perhaps he just slipped. Better not mention it more to make it worse. "This sword has a special property; it is very powerful."

Omega looked at her confused. "What special property?"

She sighed. "You do know my son's peacekeepers, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "They cannot die unless they so chose to be, or unless it was fated. It was not fated for the new to die in this war, I fear it was someone else.." She shook her head and finished, "But with this sword, you can."

The commander's eyes widened. "So you're saying that even though not destined, the peacekeeper can die by this?" He raised the sword as gesture. She nodded, and then he remembered something. "Who was destined to die instead?"

Nyx frowned and shook her head, her expression almost fearful. "No one important."

He analyzed her expression before nodding acceptably. "So... what have you sent me for, really?" Before she could open her mouth, he added quickly, "Other than giving me my late birthday gift, I mean."

She rolled her eyes. "I was getting to that," she retorted as Omega shrunk down to his seat embarrassed. "I want you to kill the new Peacekeeper."

He shot up. "What? Who is it?"

"I'm sorry, it will be too easy then," she apologized sincerely, and he nodded in understanding before standing up, his throne disappearing into nothingness after he did so.

He sheathed his swords and did a majestic bow, shadows creeping up behind him, ready to grab him at a moment's notice. "At your service, Lady Nyx."

* * *

**Yay, so I updated earlier than expected. Hooray for you!**

**Well school hasn't been an ass this week (hooray for me!) so yay! I'd written majority during weekdays. I'm also excited to post this out so I could start the next chapter of the other (have you read it yet?) but yea, not much action but..**

**Annabeth found out about the prophecy! The camps have reinforcements! Omega needs to kill Annabeth! Oh gee, that made it complicated. Now I'm not sure which one to kill..**

**Anyway, thanks for Epithet2's inspiring review! Here is your next chapter, and just to make you feel better: Song I'm listening to right now: Both Sides of the Story by WATIC :))**

**Well see you soon! Next two weeks, probably. REVIEW ~Smartzyfan**


	14. Chapter 14

***Snort* And here I thought the chapter was still short for my standards. Well, you earned it, and sorry for the delay!**

* * *

Chapter 14

"_So leave it behind, 'coz we, have a night to get away..._" Leo hummed. "_So come on and fly with me, as we make our great escape!_" He hummed some more tunes and then outright yelled into the ceiling, "_Baby are you DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN!_"

"LEO!"

"WHAT!?"

"STOP SINGING!"

"I'M NOT!"

"SHUT UP, GUYS!" Annabeth shouted back at them. "It's getting tiresome! So will you please _shut up_, and be alert? Who knows when Leo gets smacked while singing _Baby Blue_?!"

They stopped short, which made the daughter of Athena stop as well, looking at them questioningly. Jason looked at her curiously. "Who's? The _Beach Boys_?"

They howled with laughter. Annabeth just shook her head and continued walking, with them on her heels. Hazel and Abby caught up to her. "Hey. You okay?"

She nodded grimly. "Yeah, I guess," she admitted. "The prophecy was just really disturbing. If only you hadn't seen us... ugh! I wouldn't be worrying right now!"

Abby pursed her lips. "Well, it _was_ stated in the prophecy that we'll find you," she countered, and it did nothing to help ease the daughter of Athena's nerves. "And it already happened, so here's where we carry on."

Annabeth only sighed in part exhaustion and part exasperation, and kept on walking, looking around for enemies. And then suddenly, Leo's laughs stopped short when his foot got stuck on a slit and he fell on his face. Their laughing ceased and the both quests crowded around him. They flipped him on his back. His face and hands were bleeding from the fall. Abby rushed to heal the wounds.

Jason knelt next to him. "Dude, what happened?"

Leo shrugged his shoulders as best as he could without scratching them further. "I guess there was this small opening in the ground that I didn't catch," he wondered aloud. "My bad."

"Opening?" Hazel interjected, leaning closer to look for it. "Where?" She looked around his feet, but there was not decent opening that his shoe could fit in. Perhaps it was hidden by his feet or his clothes.

True enough, the son of Hephaestus struggled to move to the side- which Clarisse and Abby helped him do. He pointed his finger to a small, three-inch line that was deeply dug into the ground in about a feet. His shoe had made a contortion into the ground easily, which meant that it maybe was soil, not rock.

Hazel touched the patch, closed her eyes, and concentrated. Her forehead creased, and her eyebrows furrowed. Her forehead became matted with sweat. Finally, she opened her eyes, and stood up, panting. She pointed to the line. "Under that... is a hollow… place.. A cave.," she declared as she took deep breaths.

She stumbled, and Annabeth steadied her and looked at the daughter of Pluto worriedly. "That took too much out of you," she noticed. "What happened? That's not normal, is it?"

The daughter of Pluto shook her head. "No," she agreed. "There was this... some type of barrier that made it harder to get in. It took a lot to sense what's down there."

The heroes exchanged looks. There could be anything down there. Monster, god, titan, prison. They didn't know which was worse: titan or prison. When a titan was waiting down there, they'll most likely lose to it or die. When they'd fall into a prison, Zeus knows what's in there, what the guards will do when they found out, what they'd do to them; and the like.

Prison it is.

Clarisse took two tentative steps toward the fissure. She took out her spear, made sure it was charged with electricity, and jammed it into the crack. The ground rumbled. Leo, who was now able to stand, held on to Abby and Jason for support. Annabeth and Hazel held on to each other, trying to steady themselves. Clarisse gripped her spear, refusing to let go.

When the little earthquake stopped, suddenly, the ground they were standing on collapsed. They braced themselves for impact, but they fell straight down into darkness.

* * *

The fall seemed endless. Like the fall at the first time they came here. They didn't want to imagine how far down the earth they may have been in. The air was getting hotter. Near the earth's core, maybe? No thanks.

Perhaps stabbing that spear in the fissure wasn't such a good idea.

She was still holding on to it, and she wouldn't know what to do if it gets loose from her grip. This was the third electric spear she has had. She wasn't going to lose it for another defective one that needs taking time to get used to- and get right.

Sure, she has a back-up sword at her hip, but she doesn't always feel like using the thing. She was a daughter of the war god. Spears were more to her taste, but swords also do good. She just preferred spears. Electric ones at that.

The next thing she knew was that she was skidding along the rough wall. She could feel blood drooping down from her arm. Not anymore able to endure the pain, she bent her knees and kicked the wall, making her fly in the other direction. Before she steadied, she heard a sharp _shiiink! _from her left. Oh great. There goes that sword.

Below her, a distant roaring of water filled her ears. A body of water in Tartarus? That sounded unlikely. If it were lava, she'd believe it. Wait- LAVA?

Her sword must've fell in there, but there was no sound of steaming or smell of burnt metal whatsoever. But she did hear it fall into it. What happened with that then? If it was lava below her, why wasn't it illuminating the room? Where are her friends? What happened to them?

There was no sign of everyone else, provided that she couldn't even see the spear tip in front of her. She was still holding to it. She felt around for something- a humanoid figure or perhaps a ledge that she can hold on to, but all there is was space.

Before she knew it, she was submerged into some cool liquid. Her spear loosened itself from her grip, and in no time it was not there anymore. She flailed wildly, partly because of the missing weapon and partly because her lungs were about to burst. She felt hands place themselves on her sides and lift her muscular figure up. Her head popped out of the surface, and she stayed there, taking huge gulps of oxygen for her crying lungs.

When her breathing had evened, she looked around for her weapon and the person who saved her. The Roman, Jason, was there, nodding at her before swimming to the black, sandy shore. She nodded back and surveyed the surroundings. Abby was carrying Hazel, who was unconscious, to where Jason was also headed. Leo was already there, shivering from the cold, unexpected bath. Annabeth was out of sight, probably already up to check possible passageways.

Clarisse looked down under the liquid. It turned out shockingly to be water. How was there water here, in this hot, deep underground maze in the first place? She saw her bronze sword at the bottom, lying down on the... bed of this body of water. But no spear. She didn't waste anymore time and dove down to get the only weapon she had for now; another damned spear lost.

Only then when she walked to the shore did she realize that she was cold and shivering. She dropped to the ground, hugging herself. Her backpack and clothes were dripping wet, no doubt about the things inside the bag too. Her sword clattered to the ground beside her. She glared at resentfully, as if it was its fault that she was cold and lost her spear.

She looked around for the missing quest mate. Why wasn't that girl back yet? For a daughter of Athena, she sure wasn't that smart, going off on her own like that. What if they lost her to somewhere? Her own pack was- she looked over her shoulder- here, wet and solid. It was a sign she was already up, not still in that water. Where is.. no, her spear. Her spear was more important.

Abby approached her while she was looking around, brand new clean clothes in hand. Clarisse looked at the daughter of Aether suspiciously. "Where'd you get this?" she asked her, pointing to the clothes in her hand.

The warrior shrugged, looking innocently at the ceiling. "Oh, nowhere important," she replied nonchalantly, a small smirk on her face.

She narrowed her eyes at her as she stood up and snatched the clothes from her, before heading to a secluded spot to change.

When she came back, Abby and the others were by the entrance of the tunnel directly in front of the bank. They were clean and newly dressed. But Annabeth still wasn't back, her pack still resting on the ground beneath it, sopping wet.

Clarisse passed by it, looking at it contemptuously, and stood beside her friends. She raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't she be back by now?" she ventured impatiently.

They frowned. As if on cue, Annabeth emerged from the far tunnel, walking speedily with her dagger in hand. She extended her other arm toward the bag on the floor, and it flew to her grasp. Jason whistled appreciatively. "I have to learn how to do that."

Annabeth ignored him and continued walking, this time gaining direction to the tunnel beside the one they were standing by. She glanced at them urgently. "Come on, we need to get out of here ASAP," she advised as they scrambled after her. "There are people coming this way; we need to hurry."

They followed her into the tunnel, slowing down once the light from the room with the water disappeared from sight. Leo caught up with them after looking back once. "We must be near," he concluded.

"Very near," she agreed, nodding. "I explored these four tunnels, and this is the safest way I've found. Hopefully the right one too."

Hazel raised an eyebrow quizzically. "The right one?"

Annabeth smiled sheepishly. "Yeah," she said. "I only checked the safety attributes. Sorry."

She smiled at her. "It's fine. It's better to get lost than die, right?"

"Then it would take us longer to find that dungeon," Leo quipped out negatively. "And then we'll eventually die, so we just lived life maybe an extra ten minutes."

Her smile turned into a frown. "I hate you, Leo."

He grinned at her cheekily. "That's not true. You know you love me."

She punched him in the shoulder, shaking her head at his antics. A comfortable silence followed as they walked through the tunnel cautiously, wary of traps that may have been set up. After about a few hours of walking, Abby abruptly stopped in her tracks. The others subconsciously mirrored her actions, looking around for any enemies.

Annabeth stepped next to her. "What's wrong?"

A rush of air went past between them. It came from behind them. Instinctively, they looked towards the direction they came from. More warm air blew past them from the opening. In the distance, they could see a tiny, yellowish white blotch in the middle of the darkness. It was enlarging. Bigger and bigger..

Clarisse pointed to it. "What's that?"

As the thing increased in size, slowly, light filled the walls from afar, nearing where they were. Annabeth's eyes widened in realization. "The rush of air... the warmth, the light..," she murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned to her friends and spoke in a whispering, shaky voice, "Guys, it's burning. It's a fireball."

Leo looked at her questioningly, his eyebrows scrunched together. "A fireball? Coming straight at.." He spun around to look at the so-called fireball- which was now a few yards away. His eyes widened comically. "Run."

They scurried away from the hot ball of gas coming at them. The fireball was now almost as tall and wide as the tunnel. It explains that it was _really_ large, and that they've come a long way without even making a turn whatsoever. The thing was as hot as a supernova, now that they were at arms' range within it. For some odd reason, the fire wasn't diffusing, and it turned from yellow to red, and then back to yellow again. It was somewhat... _summoned_ especially to chase them until they tire out and stop- and die.

They wouldn't let that, of course. They ran like there was no tomorrow. Before they even reached the end, Abby noticed three more tunnels extending out in different directions- one going straight ahead, the other two to the left and right. She shouted in warning, "Guys! Look out!"

The others looked up, alarmed. But then their faces sagged in exasperation as Jason shouted, "I freaking _hate_ Janus!"

Annabeth was visibly panicking. "I told you it's not fine! I don't know what to choose!"

Hazel closed her eyes briefly, before yelling, "Left!"

They barreled into the tunnel on the left, not breaking strides. After making sure that the thing was not flying after them anymore, they promptly collapsed into a heap, breathless and sweating. Leo was spread eagle on the floor, the others resting around him. Jason propped himself up on his elbows. "Where'd that thing come from?"

"It was obviously summoned by those thugs Annabeth saw," Clarisse gruffly replied. "I think it was a test shot, to, you know, see if we get burnt. Those arrogant buffoons, thinking they could eliminate us with one sweep..," she grumbled.

Abby sighed audibly. "I don't think it was," she commented.

The daughter of the war god sat up, arching an eyebrow curiously. "How so?"

The Warrior sat up as well, and in a flurry the others had followed their example, listening. "Those soldiers stay here, right?" After getting nods, she continued, "Then they should know what tunnel leads to where. If they knew that this was where we went, they'd storm in right away. But they didn't."

Hazel looked at her in confusion. "So you're saying that they don't know where we were?"

The girl nodded. "Yes," she agreed. "That fireball was some kind of... _indicator_ to determine where we are. It wasn't to kill us with it."

Clarisse snorted derisively. "And here I thought they were tracking experts. How pathetic."

Leo shrugged and stood up. "Well, we got away from it. The fireball didn't hit us. They don't know where we are. I..," he trailed off when footsteps reverberated throughout the cave. He gulped and turned back to his companions with an ashen face. "..just jinxed it."

* * *

The heroes tried their best to walk along as fast as they could without making a sound. The footfalls were still there- loud and pronounced; they can't lose it without making too much noise. Suddenly, it stopped. The quest took this as their chance.

They ran as soundlessly as they possibly could. As they distanced themselves, someone spoke from behind them. "See? They're not here!" came a male voice. "Maybe that was just an aura it picked up on."

Another replied, this time it was female, and it was a little bit familiar. "No, they've got to be here," she insisted. "My flare balls don't fail. Never."

The guy sighed. "There's always a first time for everything, Lily," he chided, and the quest almost froze in their tracks. _Lily?_ The same, acted-as-a-daughter-of-Poseidon Lily? Oh gods, if that girl sees them, they're toast. Hell, she even has power over fire!

Lily sighed in frustration. "Will you shut up about that?" she demanded. "We're not turning back! Come on!"

In a not so subtle way, she stomped through the tunnel determinedly, her fellow soldier in tow. They heroes picked up their pace. That was too close. If only she'd fall for it just like her companion, they wouldn't be running like frenzied chickens from ruthless butchers.

They were reaching the end of the tunnel, and was thinking of some place to hide when they were met with another... three tunnels.

"AG-" Jason almost yelled out, if not for Leo who while shushing the son of Jupiter, was staring fearfully at the two most dangerous girls with them who had given them two dangerous glares. Clarisse gave them a warning look. "They're already into us, idiot. Watch what you're doing."

Hazel was staring at the tunnels warily. "I can't seem to... sense the right path," she admitted softly, before turning to them with a panic-stricken face. "What do we do? They're approaching!"

Sure enough, the footsteps were getting louder and louder. In no time, they'd be in their faces, busting their guts on the floor and wiping it clean with their limp bodies. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the three openings. "Let's go straight. We'll be able to retrace our steps easily in case we get lost."

The others nodded in agreement and headed to the path going straight ahead. As Abby did though, she stepped on some soft soil- that she hadn't noticed- and her foot pressed something. Again, the footsteps stopped and Lily's voice floated to them. In spite of themselves, the quest froze, dread filling their hopeless minds.

"Did you... hear that?" Lily asked somewhat skeptically.

"Yeah. The soil really worked," the guy marveled and barked out a laugh. _Wait_, Abby thought, _Soil?_

She looked back to the pathway, and there it was- a shapely footprint had marked itself onto the soil she had stepped on. Because of this, the soil had pressed downward, and up appeared a small button caked and camouflaged in dirt.

She whirled back around, facing friends. She looked at each of them in the eye and continued walking calmly, before bolting into a full out sprint, her friends following behind her.

* * *

_-*Camp Half-Blood*-_

"Heave ho!"

"Heave ho!"

"That's right, heave ho people!" Heracles hollered. "So that you'll grow some muscles. It'd be a shame if my trainees wouldn't be physically flashy."

The campers continued their work while chanting, adding strength to everyone's willpower. Slowly but surely, the canoe forged into the lake with a mighty splash. Weakly, they cheered before abruptly collapsing in exhaustion. Heracles looked around at the unconscious campers around him.

"We'll worry about that, _if_ we get through the passing out part," he muttered and stood from the canoe. He leaped to shore, leaving the canoe capsizing, and almost stepping on a camper's face. "Sorry."

He looked towards the golden cabin. "Apollo!" he called. Nothing happened. He repeated, this time louder and more forceful, "Apollo campers! Medic!" No one came out.

He scratched his head uncertainly. "What happened..?" he asked himself.

"Yo Herc!" came an all too familiar voice. The son of Zeus turned. He was one of the Warriors.

"What's up?" he asked. The Warrior grinned at him.

"Lords Ouranos and Aether," he replied jokingly, to which Heracles rolled his eyes at. "No, I mean you thrashed them all."

The hero arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Them? Who's them?"

The still unidentified Warrior snorted and looked at an unconscious camper. "My siblings," he said shortly as the strongest hero noticed all of the sons and daughters of Apollo scattered all around the lake. When he turned back to him, the Warrior asked, "So what're you gonna do?"

Heracles shrugged, glancing over his companion's shoulder. "I'll leave 'em be. They'll wake up eventually," he replied nonchalantly. "Come on, Orph, there's some report."

Orpheus nodded and followed him, heading towards the Big House. The clouds were unnaturally dark, and they felt something sinister in the air. Something was wrong.

As they walked to the Big House, the son of Calliope commented, "Man, this place has changed."

His companion nodded seriously. "I remember having my first sword-training right here," he said as they passed the arena on the way. "The camp's noticeably smaller."

"I hear ya, dude."

When they both got to the Big House, the head and substitute counselors were already there. Lee and some other Warriors were also assembled. They bowed to Chiron who bowed back respectfully, before gesturing for someone to start the meeting.

Lee cleared his throat, effectively stopping the chatters that had ensued. "We have... news and reports of some things important," he announced. "First thing's first. Good news or bad news?"

"Bad." Almost everyone chose in unison while the others said nothing.

The son of Apollo nodded. "The bad news, is that the monsters roaming around the continent have increased tenfold, and we still don't know the reason. No Soldiers were sighted, however we have some reports... which we'll get to later," he stated grimly.

"Now the good news, is that there seemed to be no sense of titans stirring from Tartarus, which meant that either they and the Soldiers were resting from all the action, or they've... been planning something. Which I think shouldn't go here in the good news 'cause, you know.. They're plotting."

"_Seemed?_" someone piped up.

Lee sighed. "Yeah. We don't exactly know what's going on in the inside; we only determine that by monitoring the Doors and the rate of reforming regularly," he finished, and turned to Orion and nodded. The hunter nodded back and stood up.

"So for the reports," he started. He snapped his fingers and a screen of mist formed in front of him, displayed to all of the occupants in the room. It was a moving spectacle of the top view of Camp Half-Blood, including about a few yards from outside the borders. He snapped his fingers again, and another screen formed itself beside the first one. This time, it showed one of Camp Jupiter's living quarters.

Orion waved his hand at the one showing the Greek camp, and it zoomed a bit and cleared the foggy effects. "My scouts had once told me that they'd seen something moving around the border. They said it was very fast that the thing wasn't visible to your eyes; but with trained senses more than the others, my scouts have seen it." At the time, a black blur was seen leaping quickly from tree to tree at the borders. It then became more visible when it stopped, before disappearing completely. Just like that.

A wave of uproar hit them. The Warriors calmed everyone down.

"That's a spy!" one was saying.

"What's it doing?" another asked; apparently the activity the figure was doing wasn't clear to a few. True enough, the latter nodded affirmatively.

Before they could answer, though, some people entered the scene. It seemed that Orion wasn't aware of this either, so he zoomed in to the people. It was some newbie campers. Their backs were turned, and it looked like they were looking for something.

"Who're they? They look like my campers." Brian, the head counselor for Athena, mused. The hunter fixed the angle. It was Daria and Kaemon.

This caused a few head scratches. "They could see it?"

"Newbies, again?"

"Maybe they're spies!" the Apollo counselor, Will, suggested loudly. Everyone turned to look at him. "Just, you know, we don't want to make the same mistake again."

Chiron shook his head, although hesitantly. "We shan't make assumptions. But we can keep a close eye on them," he added quickly, seeing that some counselors were going to protest.

"So yeah," Orion said again, gaining back the attention. "If this was a Soldier, then we still don't know their motives."

"Spying?" someone asked.

He shrugged. "Okay, so alright, they were spying. Then why should they when, for example, they already have spies stationed here? Like the people you're suspecting?" No one answered. "See. The Soldiers are pretty skilled; we know that by experience. If they were to spy, then they don't miss anything. Unless it was hidden or intentional, then yes."

"Intentional, right?" Brian pressed. When the hunter nodded, he continued, "Then what if they did that... that jumping thing," he gestured frantically to the screen. "To make us think that we have no spies inside the camp?"

A Warrior son of Hephaestus nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, yes it could be," he agreed. "I think I really need to make an anti-Soldier dome generator.."

"Then we just have to keep a close eye on both inside and _outside_ of the camp," Theseus nodded affirmatively, before continuing. "Now, from our troops at the Roman camp."

He spoke to something on his wrist. In seconds, a person was shown inside the screen. It was a Warrior. "Yo, Theo."

The son of Poseidon blinked emotionlessly. "I hate that name," he muttered to himself, before speaking to him. "Um, say your reports."

The guy in the image nodded. "So our sentries have spied a black... thing skirting around the valley. It didn't stay in one place too long, so it must've known that someone was watching it. It did it in the manner of... well, looking for something," he said.

Theseus narrowed his eyes. "How long did it stay?"

The guy frowned. "I guess... about a day, since the camp is you know, large. Why?" he asked, clueless of where this is going.

The son of Poseidon was silent for a moment, pondering this over. A few minutes later, his eyes widened. "I think it's, um.." he glanced around at the questioning looks he was receiving. He slumped on his seat, his expression thoughtful. "Never mind."

He got a lot of odd looks. Chiron sighed. "Well then, I reckon we just have to be extra careful," he concluded. "We still don't know what this Soldier has in mind, but whatever it is, just be ready. Alright everyone, onto dinner." As the counselors and Warriors filed out of the room, he blew the conch for dinner.

* * *

**Hi! Again, sorry for the delay! I got held up with the excitement of... other stories, if you know what I mean. ;)**

**So, is there anything more to say? I guess I could tell you to review. SO REVIEW! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah. Woo.**

**~Smartzyfan**


	15. Spare Me, Chapterless

...

_You see a mop of black hair in front of you. You're wondering who this is. He turns around so quick, that you jump back in surprise. You know him. It is the hero of Olympus, the love of Khione, the Assassin of the Dark, the Commander of the Dark Army, the son of Poseidon, Omega, Perseus Jackson. He smiles sadistically._

_"Well well, about time." Before you could react, he pushes you roughly, and you stumble back. You look up, but he is gone. You stand up. But when you looked in front of you, you could see him in the middle of the titans, minor gods, Olympian gods, primordial gods, Greeks, Romans, Warriors, and Soldiers. You get confused because they weren't at each others' throats._

_Athena smiles, like she knew something you don't, which is probably true. "Confused why you're here?"_

_You nod._

_She opens her mouth to speak, when it is clamped shut suddenly. You look around, and see Perseus holding his hand up in a fist, glaring at the goddess of wisdom._

_"In no way are you going to take the spotlight," he says selfishly, "This is _my_ story. Do you understand, stupid? Or I'll boil your blood 'till you fade." The goddess nods frantically, while a number of the others glares at him. They are restraining themselves._

_He puts down his hand and turns to you. You flinch in fear, making him smirk. "Don't worry, kitty. I won't hurt you," he soothes mockingly. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why we're talking to_ you _instead_ _of having you watch us."_

_You nod again._

_"Well basically.." he looks around then points upwards. "The lazy wanker up there couldn't get off her butt to work. Personally I'd be with her. Why?" he adds when you open your mouth to speak. You nod, again. "Try to imagine something that you enjoy doing which also benefits people, even ones you don't know. She does that. But," he drifts his finger toward you. "You, the likes of you, don't appreciate it. Then what happens? What do you do, if you were her?"_

_Swallowing, you speak for the first time. "I.." you falter. "I don't know. Maybe.. if the people don't appreciate it, then I'll probably stop."_

_He smiles at you. "Exactly. It's like," he pauses to think, and turns to glance at his enemies, then turns back to you. "It's like saving Olympus. When they don't appreciate it, I stop. But I did worse." The wicked grin he gave you sent shivers down your spine._

_You blink, comprehending. "So you mean.."_

_"That you'll never get to watch us anymore? Not really," he shakes his head frowning. "It _is _a shame. You'll never get to watch the darkside win the war, and rule the world. Right guys?"_

_The darkside roars in agreement. The people opposing them sent glares at them, while the heroine, the peacekeeper, the daughter of Athena, Annabeth Chase, steps forward. "No. We'll win this war; the good always wins. It's for peace! Right?!" The good side roars back._

_All the noise abruptly stops when Perseus raises his hand. He turns back to you, glaring. You step back involuntarily. "You," he spats the word as though it was acid. "If you don't want this war to go behind the scenes, go. Let them know."_

_"W..what?"_

_He rolls his eyes. "The creator is thinking of abandoning us. If you don't want this world to go into chaos- constantly at war, very unbalanced, and __**unsupervised**__- don't leave this world alone and vulnerable." He looks like he hates the situation not more than he hates the Olympian gods. "Soon, we'd get attacked by alien dump, or so Lady Nyx tells me, and the creator does nothing to save us. If you don't want that to happen, you know what to do."_

_You are unsure if this would work, but you choose to do it on your own accord._

...


End file.
